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BEE-KEEPING.
BY
"THE TIMES" BEE-MASTER.
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BEE-KEEPING.
BY
"THE TIMES" BEE-MASTER.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW. SON, & MARSTON.
14, LUDGATE HILL.
1864.
[The right of translation is reserved.]
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LONDON:
PRINTED BY EDMUND EVANS,
RAQUET COURT, FLEET STREET.
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PREFACE
MY apology for writing a Bee-Book is asfollows:—I sent The Times an accountof a very successful honey harvest aboutthe end of July, containing some observations onthe treatment of bees, and the profits that mightaccrue to the cottager were he to take the rightand humane way of taking honey from his hives.This communication appears to have interestedmany, for in consequence of it, persons desirousof information wrote to the Editor of The Times,requesting in confidence the name of the Bee-master,in order that they might correspond with-vi-him. The Editor declined to give it up withoutmy consent, which I felt it expedient to withhold.But to satisfy those who took so warm an interestin the subject, I addressed a series of letters toThe Times, explanatory of some of the simplestelements of apiculture. These excited so greatinterest, that I received multitudes of letters addressedto "The Times Bee-master," which it wasphysically impossible to answer. But most of mycorrespondents complained of the obscurity andcomplexity of bee-books in general, and earnestlybegged me to prepare a work they could understandand translate into practice. I have attemptedto do so, strengthening my own observations byvaluable extracts from the works of others. I amnot, however, insensible to the great value, wideresearch, and real usefulness of the works I havecarefully and long read. The first and most useful,as well as most beautiful modern work on bees, is"My Bee-Book," by the Rev. William Charles Cotton,M.A., student of Christ Church, Oxon. It is-vii-profusely illustrated, and is the most genial andinstructive work on bees it has been my lot toread. I have felt so great an interest in thisgood clergyman, that it often occurred to me totry to ascertain where he was an