28 MAKING A START WITH BEES 
when the one is ready for the honey flow, while the other must 
be transferred and much of the season lost in building up to the 
point of storing surplus. 
A set of ten good brood combs in wired frames is worth at least 
two dollars. A new ten-frame hive, complete, will cost three 
dollars or more, and an Italian queen another dollar. This does 
not leave a great deal for one’s labor in transferring, so that the 
colony ready for business is likely to store more than enough 
additional honey to make up the difference. 
However, in buying bees, unless one is prepared to ship for 
a considerable distance, he sometimes finds it necessary to take 
what happens to be offered. 
Moving Bees.—If one will go to the apiary on a warm day 
when the voung bees are taking their first flight, he will observe 
with what care they mark the location of the hive. At first thev 
fly but a few inches from the entrance and pass back and forth 
many times, always facing the hive. Each time they gradually 
lengthen the line of flight, back and forth, up and down, until 
they have received an indelible impression of the appearance of 
their home. After thev have fully examined the front of the 
hive they fly a little farther, until they can get a similar view 
of the immediate surroundings at a distance of a few feet. The 
flight now takes the form of irregular circles, which are gradually 
enlarged to take in the apiary and in time the whole country 
roundabout. These preliminary flights are always taken by the 
young bees, before they take up their duties as foragers in the 
field. 
Apparently they come to depend entirely upon the sense of 
location thus developed, and afterwards fly directly to the hive 
entrance from any point of the compass, with little attention to 
anything but the location. If the hive is taken away and another 
set in its place, they will enter the new hive without a moment’s 
hesitation. Once inside they discover their mistake, and hur- 
riedly tumble out and take to flight. After a moment’s examina- 
