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 Mr. T. J. Mutvany, of Bay View Apiary, Katikati, 
to whom I tender my sincere thanks for his valuable aid, without 
which, with the limited time at my disposal, I could not have under- 
taken the task. The share taken by Mr. Mutvany 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. 
T have also to acknowledge my indebtedness and tender my thanks 
to Mr. C. Futtwoon, of Brisbane, Queensland ; Mr. Tuos. E. W1x11s, 
of Sydney, N.S.W.; Mr. Davip Grass, of Ballarat, Victoria; Mr. 
A. E. Bonney, of Adelaide, South Australia; and Mr. Tos. Lioyp 
Hoop, 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 of all the standard works already pub- 
