Nr. e DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 349 



you can certainly get them by ordering from some dealer at a dis- 

 tance, but tliey would have to be sent by express, and that would 

 make them expensive. The expreseage would be much less un a 

 nucleus, that is a small colony covering only two or three framris, 

 and such a nucleus could be built up into a strong colony, but so 

 long as you have had no experience in that line it will be much better 

 for you to begin with a full colony. If you want to be at all econom- 

 ical in the matter, do not send off two or three hundred miles for 

 a colony of Italian bees in a movable-frame hive, but get the nearest 

 to it 3'ou can get in your own neighborhood, if you can do no better 

 than to get a colony of black bees in a box hive. 



Whatever you may buy, you will do well to leave the selection to 

 the man from whom you buy, if he is experienced and at the same 

 time honest. If he lacks in either of these two respects, then you 

 must do the best you can with your own judgment. 



Even for the sake of getting a bargain, it will hardly be wise for 

 you to start with more than one or two colonies. Let your numbers 

 grow with your experience. 



The probability is that spring is the best time for you to buy. If 

 you have several from which to select, other things being equal, 

 take the one that seems to have the most bees. Take one that feels 

 heavy when you lift it, for a light one may not have enough honey for 

 the bees. One which threw off a sw^irm the previous year wall have 

 the advantage of a young queen. 



LOCATION OF APIARY. 



The word "apiary"' is used to express the place where bees are 

 kept. It is also, and perhaps oftener, used to mean the bees with all 

 their appurtenances, as "John has an apiary of twenty colonies of 

 bees." If bees are wintered outdoors, and kept in the same place 

 the year around, it i® well that they be in a place sheltered from the 

 prevailing winds. It will be well at the same time if the hivps: can 

 be under the shade of trees. In the colder portions of the State, 

 where it is desirable to cellar bees in the winter, a good place for 

 summer is in the apple orchard. The shade is a good thing for 

 both bees and bee-keeper. In hot w^eather it is all the better if the 

 breezes have full sweep, but shelter for them is desirable in winter, 

 as also in fall and spring. 



BEE-STANDS. 



The former practice of having hives placed on benches or stands 

 a foot or more high is no longer in vogue. In the height of the 

 honey harvest many bees drop on the ground in the front of the 



