lished in England, America, and Germany, as well as the bee journals 

 and technical periodicals of the same countries, extracting from each 

 what appeared to me to be the most essential to be impressed upon 

 the'mind of the reader. In every case I have been careful not only to 

 specify the sources from which such extracts have been taken, but 

 also to give the quotations accurately in the words of the respegtive 

 authors. I feel convinced that no reader of this volume can fall into 

 the mistake of supposing that the quotations given from such writers 

 as Huber, Dzierzon, Langstroth, QriNBY, Cook, Root, Cheshire, 

 Lubbock, Muller, and many others are meant to supersede the 

 necessity of studying the original works from which those quotations 

 are taken ; on the contrary, they cannot fail to excite the desire to do 

 so on the part of all who, after the general view here given, shall wish 

 seriously to pursue the study. 



On all practical points of working detail I have given the practice 

 followed by myself, and with special regard to the experience of 

 myself and others in the peculiar circumstances of the Australasian 

 colonies. On many of these points the beginners in these countries 

 could find no reliable guide in any of the European or American works, 

 for although there are in both of those continents some honey-pro- 

 ducing districts similarly situated, at least in point of climate, to the 

 semi-tropical parts of Australasia, yet it happens that all the standard 

 works on apiculture have had their origin in places situate in com- 

 paratively high latitudes, where the severe winters and the absence of 

 an evergreen flora tend to place the practice of bee-keeping upon 

 essentially different principles in many respects. Many subjects 

 indirectly connected with practical apiculture are also introduced in 

 this volume which I have not seen touched upon in any other work. 

 Among these I would direct special attention to Chapter XIX. 



In order not to confuse the novice I have given, in all ordinary 

 matters, full details of such methods as I have adopted and consider 

 the best ; but in special cases, where there is some divergence of 

 opinion, I have also described the plans recommended by some of the 

 leading apiarists of the day, and in every case I have fought to bring 

 the accounts of improvements in the art down to the latest date. 



