272 
SPRING MANAGEMENT. 
THosz who commence an apiary by the purchase of 
established stock-hives, and who did not secure such 
in the autumn, can, with the opening of February, 
and for the five or six weeks ensuing, make a 
selection of those that have the characteristics of 
health and strength—a matter which may in general 
be very readily ascertained on a fine day by obser- 
ving the quantity of farina carried into a hive. ‘The 
best time,” says Payne, “to establish an apiary is 
from the middle of February to the middle of March. 
The stocks will have passed through the winter, 
and the removal is safe and easy. There are few 
commodities in which a person can be so easily 
deceived as in a hive of bees. I would therefore 
recommend the young apiarian to take the opinion 
of some experienced person before he makes his 
purchase. If the hive is not of the preceding year, 
its weight is no criterion of its value; for an old 
stock contains a large quantity of pollen.” An 
examination of the combs, as to discoloration, will 
often be a useful criterion of age. 
The selected stocks should be removed to their new 
quarters by hand, at dusk, as per directions given 
on page 172; they must then be no more disturbed. 
The caution on page 161 as to purchasing of a near 
neighbour must not be overlooked, and if such course 
is unavoidable, the hive should be closed for three 
days, taking care to give it sufficient ventilation. 
The bees of a new swarm just hived never think of 
