GETTING THE BEES.—Chapter V. 
a sack (an ordinary grain-sack or ae ah 
cleaned phosphate sack willdo),or |” 
shake it into a box and cover the 
same; then take the swarm to a hive 
made ready and dump the bees in 
front of the entrance, being sure 
to have provided an easy way for 
the bees to crawl up into the en- 
trance. The bees will quickly find 
their way into the hive and at once 
adopt it as their own home, pro- 
vided, of course, that the queen en- 
ters, which she ordinary does. No 
bees work with so great energy as 
do those of a prime swarm (which 
is the first swarm of the season to 
issue from a colony); therefore 
the method of buying a swarm or 
capturing one is, perhaps, the 
most economical and satisfactory 
way of all for the novice to begin 
beekeeping; but, unless the swarms 
are secured early in the season, 
they are not likely to produce surplus honey the first year. 
ee 
A swarm of bees cut from a branch of a tree. 
Buying Bees by the Pound. 
Buying bees by the pound is another way for the beginner to start. This 
is not an easy way, though inexpensive. Too small a package should not. 
be purchased—never less than two pounds. Bees can be bought in this 
way from any regular bee-rearer. They are shipped in what is known: as 
a combless package, which is a specially devised box with arrangement 
for feeding the bees while en route from the bee-rearer to the purchaser. 
An experienced beekeeper can take half a pound of bees bought thus and 
build them up to a full-sized 
colony during the first season ; 
but a beginner should take 
nothing less than a two-pound 
package. The hive that has 
been selected to receive bees 
purchased by package should 
be provided, if possible, with 
frames containing drawn 
combs (that is, combs already 
built and ready for the bees to 
work in, not merely frames of 
foundation), as bees shipped 
in a combless package in- 
A combless hee-shipping cage in which bees E 
bought by the pound are shipped. crease much more rapidly on 
26 
