106 AUSTRALASIAN 



door leading from one room to the other, and a window in the 

 centre of the back of the fumigating room. A passage is left 

 down the centre of the room, from the door, 3ft. 6in. wide, and 

 on each side of this passage 2in. x 3in. scantling are nailed in 

 an upright position from floor to ceiling, 20in. apart, the narrow 

 edge of the scantling towards the passage. On each side of 

 the scantlings 3in. x lin. battens are nailed in a horizontal 

 position to carry the frames. These are nailed a sufficient 

 distance above each other to allow a space of about l|in. 

 between each tier of frames. The space on the side of the 

 window and immediately opposite it is unoccupied, so as not 

 to block out the light. When we are stowing away our spare 

 combs they are carried into this room and hung on the battens 

 exactly as they hang in the hives, the battens answering as 

 rabbets. The combs are kept about an inch or so apart. As 

 soon as we detect the slightest sign of the bee moth we fumi- 

 gate the room in the usual way. This sized room has a capacity 

 for storing about 2,500 combs. 



STOCKING THE APIARY. 



The best time of the year to start an apiary is the spring, 

 although there can be no objection to procuring bees at any 

 time during the summer months. It is not advisable for a 

 beginner to purchase his first bees in the autumn, unless he 

 can get established colonies in movable frame hives from some 

 reliable person, and can also get advice occasionally, if it should 

 be necessary, from some experienced bee-keeper. For various 

 reasons I would recommend the novice to deal with an advanced 

 bee-keeper, one who knows exactly what he is selling, in pre- 

 ference to picking up apparent bargains from box-hive men. 

 When sufficient experience has been gained, so that the pur- 

 chaser can judge of what he is buying, there can of course be 

 no objection to his dealing wherever he finds it most advan- 

 tageous. 



The value of a swarm or stock of common bees, like that of 

 everything else, depends so much upon the circumstances of 

 demand and supply that it may be best described in the ordinary 

 phraseology to be " that which it will fetch in the market." 

 There is and can be no fixed price. One person may sell a 

 swarm for five shillings, for which another would, and with 

 reason, ask a pound. A good strong swarm (over five or six 



