INTRODUCTION. 



A very large part of our matter will be in all 

 respects absolutely new, being the issue of researches, 

 dissections, and experiments, which have, in connection 

 with the practical work of the apiary, occupied 

 delightfully no inconsiderable fraction of many years 

 of a busy life. The anatomical, physiological, and 

 botanical illustrations, which, to a work like the 

 present, are as important as the text, have been in 

 every case, save one or two, drawn by the writer on 

 the wood, direct from his microscopical preparations, 

 or the objects in situ, as the case may be; and it is 

 hoped that they may form in themselves a contri- 

 bution to the general knowledge of the subject, 

 which may advance apiculture a stage in the 

 direction of a true science. The accuracy of the 

 drawing may, it is believed, be relied upon ; but, 

 notwithstanding earnest effort on the part of 

 draughtsman and engraver, producing results which 

 it is felt will not suffer by comparison, it must still be 

 confessed that the subtleties of Nature are in advance 

 of the refinements of Art, and that it has not been 

 possible in every case to secure full details. The 

 drawings are all to scale, which has usually been 

 given with the description. This fact will make the 

 illustrations of appliances peculiarly serviceable, since 

 all measurements can be readily ascertained, even 

 where they have not been stated. 



Our title is a compound one, and our treatment 

 shall be complex. Practical bee-keeping is the out- 

 come, and not the parent, of a scientific knowledge 

 of bees and their relations to the world about them. 

 Practical men have not made scientific apiculture ; 



B 2 



