PBEFACE 



The fact that witHn a period of less than four years two editions of 

 this Bulletin, comprising 35,000 copies, have been exhausted, and a third 

 one called for, is indicative in a marked degree of the exceptional interest 

 taken of late in bee-culture in New Zealand. 



The economic importance of commercial bee-farming is now univers- 

 ally recognised, and nowhere has this been more fully demonstrated than in 

 the United States of America, where according to the latest official report 

 (issued January, 1909), " There are in the United States 700,000 beekeepers, 

 producing annually 20,000,000 dollars' worth of honey and 2,000,000 dollars' 

 worth of beeswax." In British coin this means an aggregate value an- 

 nually of nearly £4,500,000. Further, the report states that " The honey- 

 bee probably does more good to American agricidture as a pollenizing agent 

 than as a honey-producer." 



The extraordinary progress made since the New Zealand Department 

 of Agriculture considered bee-culture worthy of recognition has fully war- 

 ranted the assistance it has received. Nothing has contributed more to this 

 advancement than the passing of the Apiaries Act, which, for efficiency in 

 dealing with foul-brood and the cause of its spreading, surpasses all similar 

 Acts in existence at the present time. It has put new life into the industry, 

 by encouraging the legitimate bee-farmer to look forward to the time when 

 the chief source of his trouble hitherto, the common box hive, will have 

 been swept out of existence. 



The two former Bulletins, Nos. 5 and 18, have been revised, enlarged, 

 and embodied in the present one. All subjects, including the chapter on 

 Diseases and their Treatment, have been brought up to date, and the 

 efficacy of the treatment prescribed has been fully proven in practice 

 throughout the Dominion. The additional subject-matter will, I believe, 

 further assist those who take up the fascinating occupation of beekeeping, 

 whether for pleasure or profit. 



I. HOPKINS, 



Government Apiculturist. 



Auckland, N.Z., March, 1909. 



