Why the word luck is applied to Bees, 362 Rule in taking Bees for a share, 364 A man may sell his "luck," 364 First-rate stocks recommended to begin with, 365 Old stocks are good as any if healthy, 365 Caution respecting diseased brood, 366 Result of ignorance in purchasing, 366 Size of Hives important, 367 How large Hives can be made smaller, 368 Moderate weather best to remove Bees, 369 Preparations for transporting Bees, 370 Securing Bees in the Hive, 370 Best Conveyance, 370 Hive to be inverted, 371 Conclusion, 372 PREFACE. Before the reader decides that an apology is necessary for the introduction of another work on bees into the presence of those already before the public, it is hoped that he will have the patience to examine the contents of this. The writer of the following pages commenced beekeeping in 1828, without any knowledge of the business to assist him, save a few directions about hiving, smoking them with sulphur, &c. Nearly all the information to be had was so mingled with erroneous whims and notions, that it required a long experience to separate essential and consistent points. It was _impossible_ to procure a work that gave the information necessary for practice. From that time to the present, no sufficient guide for the inexperienced has appeared. European works, republished here, are of but little value. Weeks, Townley, Miner, and others, writers of this country, within a few years, have given us treatises, valuable to some extent, but have entirely neglected several chapters, very important and essential to the beginner. Keeping bees _has_ been, and is now, by the majority, deemed a hazardous enterprise. The ravages of the moth had been so great, and loss so frequent, that but little attention was given to the subject for a long time. Mr. Weeks lost his entire stock three times in fifteen years. But soon after the discovery was promulgated, that honey could be taken from a stock without destroying the bees, an additional attention was manifest, increasing to a rage in many places. It seems to be easily understood, that _profit_ must attend success, in this branch of the farmer's stock; inasmuch as the "bees work for nothing and find themselves." This interest in bees should be encouraged to continue till enough are kept to collect all the honey now wasted; which, compared with the present collections, would be more than a thousand pounds to one. But to succeed, that is the difficulty. Some eighteen years since, after a