There is another class, who have adopted all the extravagant fancies of the patent bee hive venders, paying large sums of money for hives worse than useless, with what are claimed to be patent fixtures--expecting a sudden fortune as the result, and found the whole thing a fraud. Perhaps they have been duped in this way a half-dozen times or more, and always with the same result. This class will tell you emphatically, that everything pertaining to bees is a humbug and a cheat--no money in them, etc. In presenting the statements made in this work, I am not blinded nor influenced by any selfish motive, in condemning or recommending any one system of bee management or hive. I only wish to present facts, and do what little I can to make bee keeping safe and profitable to all who engage in it. There is much written on the subject of bees--their habits and management, construction of hives, etc., which is mere guess-work. A great deal is written, too, for no other than selfish or prejudiced motives. What is wanted is practical instruction on the subject--such instruction and statements as are based on experience, and will stand the test of application, when brought into active, every-day use. The real, practical experience of the bee keeper, who has devoted many years to the work, and will tell what has come under his or her personal observation, is worth much more than the finest spun theory of the most learned and talented theorist; or in other words, mere conjecture is a poor and uncertain guide in bee keeping. It is an old but true saying that "Practice makes Perfect." In no business will this saying apply more closely or with greater force than to bee keeping. That bees are profitable when rightly managed, I think I have shown in this little work; and that they can be of no profit, as often managed, I think is equally made clear.