VI. PREFACE. 



merely superficial way an epitome of our present knowledge upon all 

 apicultural matters, scientific and theoretical, should also enter into 

 full details upon all the practical points necessary for the guidance of 

 a beginner in the art, and which should be specially prepared with 

 reference to the seasons of the southern hemisphere, and to the flora 

 and other local peculiarities of the Australasian colonies. A revision 

 and enlargement of the original manual to meet these views has led 

 to the re-casting and re-writing of all the chapters, and the intro- 

 duction of so much new matter and additional illustrations as to 

 constitute it in point of fact an entirely new work. 



In carrying out this programme I have availed myself of the able 

 co-operation of Mb. T. J. Mulvany, of Bay View Apiary, Katikati, 

 to whom I tender my sincere thanks for his valuable aid, without 

 •winch, with the limited time at my disposal, I could not have under- 

 taken the task. The share taken by Mb. Mulvany in the new matter 

 to be found in many of the following chapters will be recognised by 

 the readers of "The New Zealand and Australian Bee Journal," to 

 the columns of which he so ably contributed, during the two years of 

 its existence ; condensed extracts from several of his papers are here 

 given in places where their introduction seemed to work in with the 

 present plan. 



I have also to acknowledge my indebtedness and tender my thanks 

 to Mb. C. Fullwoou, of Brisbane, Queensland ; Mb. Thos. E. Willis, 

 of Sydney, N.S.W. ; Mr. David Glass, of Ballarat, Victoria ; Mr. 

 A. E. Bonnet, of Adelaide, South Australia ; and Mr. Thos. Lloyd 

 Hood, of Hobart, Tasmania, who so willingly and ably acceded to my 

 request to furnish me with facts connected with apiculture in their 

 respective colonies, and so aided me in giving much local information 

 valuable to beginners in all parts of Australasia, and which must also 

 prove interesting to apiarists working under very different circum- 

 stances in other parts of the world. 



In endeavouring to place before the novice (whose necessities have 

 been kept constantly in view in the preparation of this work) a clear 

 picture of the rise, progress, and present condition of the art of bee- 

 culture, I have made free use o"f all the standard works already pub- 



