MAILING QUEENS. 813 
600. How many bees are there in a pound? This ques- 
tion has been propounded to us several times. L’abbé 
Collin, by careful experiments, found that in a normal con- 
dition it takes about 5,100 bees to weigh a pound; while in 
the swarm, when they are supplied with honey, it takes less 
than 4,300. Their weight will vary according to the 
quantity of honey they have absorbed. 
601. Parties contemplating the breeding of bees and 
queens (489) for sale, will do well to locate themselves as 
far South as convenient for easy shipment, as it is by far 
more lucrative to raise them there than in the North. This 
is very easy to understand. In the South, the bees usually 
winter safely, and breed early, so that the colonies are 
strong, while those of the Northern latitudes are still con- 
fined in their hives, struggling against the rigors of Winter. 
If an Apiarist purchases bees or queens at the proper 
time—Spring—to recruit his Winter loss, he will most likely 
buy them from some location South of him, as he can there 
obtain stronger colonies, and earlier queens, than in his own 
latitude. 
602. On the other hand, as the honey of the Northern 
States is superior in quality to Southern honey, bee-culture 
for honey production can be made fully as profitable in the 
North, in spite of the difficulties of wintering (619). 
TRANSPORTING BEES SHORT DISTANCES. 
603. The box-hives may be prepared for removal by 
inverting them and tacking a coarse towel or sack over 
them, or strips of lath may be laid over wire-cloth, and brads 
driven through them into the edges of the hive. 
Confine the hive, so that it cannot be jolted, in a wagon 
with springs, and be sure, before starting, that it is impossible 
for a bee to get out. The inverted position of the hive will 
give the bees what air they need, and guard their combs 
