SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 19 



But how should the beginner buy his bees ? The cheapest, safest, and best 

 way is to buy full colonies from some progressive bee-keeper who may have 

 them to sell, for then you would be almost sure to get a good stock of 

 bees. 



Another good way is to buy a few heavy old-style gums from some old- 

 style bee-keeper near you, and put the new swarms from them in modern 

 hives; and, as soon as possible, buy some young prolific queens for the new 

 swarms, and kill the old queens and introduce the new ones to the colonies. 

 Soon the old box hives will die out, and you will have a modern apiary, and 

 good stock. 



Many beginners have bought two-frame nuclei for foundation stock, and 

 built them up to full colonies. This is a good way for beginners to buy bees 

 if they will give them the proper attention; for they will gain much valuable 

 information while building the small swarms up to full colonies. Before 

 the nuclei are ordered, a hive for each one should be set up in readiness, 

 and full sheets of foundation put in the frames (starters will not do for 

 this purpose, for the small swarms of bees must have as much help as possi- 

 ble) ; and as soon as the nuclei arrive remove them from the case they were 

 shipped in, and set them in. the hives next to one side and set the division- 

 board next to them. A beginner should never order less than two-frame 

 nuclei, which would consist of two frames of completed comb filled with 

 brood in all stages of development, and honey, and contain a young prolific 

 queen and enough bees to cover the two frames of comb well. After they 

 have been in the hive for a day or so, separate the two combs and insert a 

 frame filled with foundation in between them, and push them up together 

 with the division-board behind them, and put the feed to them (see "Feed- 

 ing Bees"). The bees dislike this space between the combs; and the founda- 

 tion being a great inducement to start them to comb-building, and plenty of 

 feed for them to eat to secrete the wax, they will at once begin to draw out 

 the cells on this sheet of foundation, and in a few days it will be a beautiful 

 white comb filled with the feed, young bees, and eggs, for the queen will begin 

 to lay in it as soon as the bees get the cells built out far enough for her to 

 deposit eggs in them, and as soon as this comb is about completed, separate 

 two more combs and insert another frame containing a full sheet of founda- 

 tion between them and continue feeding. As soon as this comb is about com- 

 pleted, insert another frame of foundation, and so on until the bees have 

 completed for themselves a set of combs. 



Now, it is the feed that is enabling them to accomplish this great task, 

 and it should be kept up until all the comb in the hive is completed; and 

 by this time the bees will be built up to a booming colony, and be in the 

 best possible condition for the approaching honey-flow. If there is a honey- 

 flow on, the bees are not likely to remove the feed, because they are getting 

 better feed from the field, and they will build the comb as if they were fed. 

 But it is best to order the bees and build them up to a strong colony before 

 the honey-flow so as to secure a crop of honey, if possible. If the weather 

 is cold when the nuclei arrive, or during the time they are building up, they 



