1877 Preface 
In preparing' this work I have been much indebted to the books of Langstroth, Moses 
Quinby, Prof. A. J. Cook, and some others, as well as to all of the bee journals; but, 
more than to all these, have I been indebted to the thousands of friends scattered far and 
wide who have so kindly furnished the fullest particulars in regard to all the new improve¬ 
ments as they have come up in our beloved branch of rural industry. Those who ques¬ 
tioned me so much a few years ago are now repaying by giving me such long kind letters 
in answer to any inquiry I may happen to make that I often feel ashamed to think what 
meager answers I have been obliged to give them under similar circumstances. A great 
part of this ABC book is really the work of the people; and the task that devolves on 
me is to collect, condense, verify, and utilize what has been scattered thru thousands of 
letters for years past. My own apiary has been greatly devoted to testing carefully each 
new device, invention, or process as it came up. The task has been a very pleasant one, 
and if the perusal of the following pages affords you as much pleasure I shall feel amply 
repaid. 
November, 1877. A. I. Root. 
Preface to the 1923 Edition 
Little did A. I. Root, when he wrote the preface to the 1877 edition, realize that his 
work of 200 pages, written expressly for beginners, would develop during the following 
45 years into the ABC and X Y Z of Bee Culture, a work which meets the needs of 
both beginners and professional beekeepers. Since 1877 great changes have taken place 
in the bee world. Then beekeeping was hardly recognized as a business, but today it has 
grown to enormous proportions, as is shown in the Foreword following. Thousands of 
colonies are now handled by individuals and syndicates, and honey is shipped by the 
carload to various parts of the world—an achievement which would not have been be¬ 
lieved possible when the first edition of this book was published. Not only has this in¬ 
dustry taken a great stride in a commercial way, but thousands of people are keeping a 
few hives of bees on their farms and back lots. They have discovered that bee culture 
is not only a pleasurable pastime, but an important source of income since both honey 
and more and better fruit are secured. See Bees and Fruit in the body of this work. 
After the third edition, failing health, the cares of a rapidly growing business in 
the manufacture of beekeepers’ supplies and the publication of Gleanings in Bee Culture 
made it impossible for the author, A. I. Root, to keep pace with all the developments of 
beekeeping and make the necessary revisions. An assistant editor was required; and 
this position was naturally taken by Mr. Root’s elder son, the present author and re¬ 
viser, who had been his father’s chief helper in the apiary and who had for many years 
been in constant touch with his experimental work with bees. At the same time he as¬ 
sumed the duties of revising the A B C of Bee Culture, he also became assistant editor 
of Gleanings in Bee Culture and later editor—a position he has held for 35 years. While 
the earlier editions of the A B C of Bee Culture described correctly the methods of bee¬ 
keeping in northern Ohio and in other portions of the Noi'th where the climate and honey 
flora are similar, it soon became evident to the junior editor, as the result of an exten¬ 
sive correspondence, that conditions in other pai*ts of the United States, where climate 
and soil are radically different, required a modified treatment. 
