The Book of 

 Bee-Keeping. 



I.— iNtrodxJction. 



1. Spread of Bee-keeping. — Apiculture, or, as it is most 

 frequently called, Bee-keeping, has made such rapid strides 

 during the last fifteen or twenty years, that it is scarcely credible 

 that a few years before the first edition of this book was issued it 

 was an exceptional thing to see a bar-frame hive in a cottager's 

 garden. Now, owing to the exertions of many in promoting 

 this most useful employment, and greatly to the spread of in- 

 formation contained in periodicals — a few entirely devoted to 

 bee-culture, many others giving a share of their columns to its 

 advancement — it has spread itself over not only the British Isles, 

 but many countries far distant, even to the Antipodes. 



2. Advantages. — It is an employment that, when once 

 commenced in real earnest, few get tired of ; enthusiasts in bee- 

 culture are the rule, not the exception. Why is this? It offers 

 inducements that no other description of stock-keeping presents. 

 These advantages and inducements we will endeavour to set 

 forth in the following pages. 



3. Object of this Book. — Many works have been written on 

 the subject ; a great number of these have become obsolete, as 

 the researches of bee-masters have slowly and surely unravelled 

 the mysteries surrounding the bee-hive, or have discovered new 

 and more favourable methods of treating their little dependents. 

 Some, although recognised as standard works, are quite beyond 

 the reach of the artisan or cottager class, on account of their 

 expense. It is, therefore, desirable that a perfectly compre- 

 hensible manual on apiculture should be brought before the 

 public — one treating upon this subject in its most modem 

 aspect, but, at the same time, being quite free from any techni' 



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