Transcriber Note Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_ and =Bold=. [Illustration: Plate I. E. W. Robinson Delt. et Sc P 1865.] THE APIARY; OR, BEES, BEE-HIVES, AND BEE-CULTURE. BEING A FAMILIAR ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS OF BEES AND THE MOST IMPROVED METHODS OF MANAGEMENT, WITH FULL DIRECTIONS, ADAPTED FOR THE COTTAGER, FARMER, OR SCIENTIFIC APIARIAN. By ALFRED NEIGHBOUR. "Beaucoup de gens aiment les abeilles; je n'ai vu personne qui lea aima médiocrement: on se passionne pour elles."--Gelieu. LONDON: KENT AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW; GEO. NEIGHBOUR AND SONS, 149, REGENT STREET, AND 127, HIGH HOLBORN; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1866. FOLKARD AND SON, PRINTERS, DEVONSHIRE STREET, QUEEN SQUARE. [Illustration] PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. It is a source of much gratification to find that we are called upon to prepare another edition of this work in less than twelve months from its first publication. No greater proof could have been afforded of the rapid advance which the pursuit of bee-keeping is now making in this country. In the hope of rendering the present volume more useful and instructive than its predecessor, and also in acknowledgment of the kind approbation with which our earlier efforts have been received, we have made several additions, and trust that the same may prove acceptable to our readers. [Illustration] PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Our apology for preparing a bee-book is a very simple one. We are so frequently applied to for advice on matters connected with bees and bee-hives, that it seemed likely to prove a great advantage, alike to our correspondents and ourselves, if we could point to a "handy book" of our own, which should contain full and detailed replies sufficient to meet all ordinary inquiries. Most of the apiarian manuals possess some special excellence or other, and we have no wish to disparage any of them; yet, in all, we have found a want of explanations relating to several of the more recent improvements. It has more especially been our aim to give explicit and detailed directions on most subjects connected with the hiving and removing of bees, and also, to show how, by judicious application of the "depriving" system, the productive powers of the bees may be enormously increased.