21 



Fig. 4. Smoker (copied from Phillips), 



To begin, one must have 

 hives and bees and a good 

 location for them. It is 

 usually considered that the 

 best time to begin is in the 

 Spring and previous to the 

 honey flow, but under Ha- 

 waiian conditions one can 

 begin at almost any time 

 without running much risk 

 of loss or failure. The 

 usual way to acquire bees 

 is to purchase them from a 

 neighboring beekeeper, and 

 it is most convenient to 

 seller and purchaser to 

 deal with nuclei, or five-framed colonies with the frames well 

 covered with bees and at least two frames of brood. While 

 beehives may be made at home, they can be bought from 

 dealers for much less than they would cost home-made, and 

 the standard ten-frame hive with one or two supers, is recom- 

 mended for general use. A coat or two of paint applied to 

 the hive bodies before use preserves the wood and makes 

 them much more durable than they would otherwise be. 

 Select mated queens are very essential to the prosperity of the 

 colonies, and if not acquired with the original hive they should 

 be purchased from some reliable queen-breeder and introduced. 



Since the location of the bees de- 

 pends so much on the circumstances 

 of the beekeeper, little can be sug- 

 gested in this regard. One must 

 consider primarily the quantity and 

 character of the forage and the proxim- 

 ity of neighboring apiaries. The early 

 sunlight is desirable, also a shelter from 

 wind. The best locations in Hawaii are 

 undoubtedly in the kiawe belt, but other 

 locations are often quite profitable. With 

 the best possible forage it is not profit- 

 able to put more than two hundred hives 

 in an apiary, and apiaries of this size 

 should be located not less than two 



„M J- 1 j,i Fig. 5: Hive tools (copied 



miles from each other. * from Phillips). 



