and tts Economic Management. 379 
Swarms should always be purchased by weight, and the 
buyer ought to insist upon receiving no other. There are 
3,500 bees to the pound, and four or five pounds would 
give a good working swarm. The plan of offering swarms 
containing so many thousand bees, when in reality not 
more than a third of the number make up the swarm 
forwarded, is becoming a thing of the past, and I do 
not suppose many would be caught in the trap now; 
nevertheless, swarms of no guaranteed weight are still 
advertised, and it is time bee-keepers set their faces 
against the practice. 
Weighing Bees. 
Where natural or other swarms are weighed after 
-clustering inside the travelling box, they can be first 
secured and carried to the scales, and the weight marked 
upon the label. If they have to go a long journey, either 
place a feeding bottle over the zinc until starting or see 
that a frame with sufficient sealed stores is fixed in before 
the swarm is hived ; the weight of such comb and the box 
to be noted, and presently deducted from the gross weight. 
Where a definite quantity is ordered, the scales are to 
be carried to the hive by any convenient arrangement that 
provides correct balance ; take the weight of the package, 
and if the opening is not wide enough to admit a comb 
end-way, use a funnel lined with zinc. Now make sure of 
the queen and then shake from the combs the necessary 
quantity of bees, and insert the queen last of all; close at 
once and pack for the journey. 
They are to be first smoked in the usual way, and all 
the time they do not miss the queen, the bulk of the bees 
shot into the box will remain simply clustering on the 
sides. The operation should take place early in the 
morning or towards evening as the bees are more restful, 
