264 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
offered them. • Ligurian hybrids, as swarming bees, 
usually run 3500 to the pound, which may be regarded 
as the average. From this we find that, when allow- 
ance is made for the small number of comparatively 
heavy drones mostly accompanying the swarm, ylb. 
weight may only contain the guaranteed number of 
individuals, while, in average cases, more than 52 lb. 
will be required. In the face of this, the dealer who 
gives his customer qlb. of bees for a swarm may be 
accounted not only just, but even generous. 
Should we, in making swarms in our own apiary, 
and for our own use, be dealing with movable-comb 
hives whose frames are, unfortunately, not inter- 
changeable, we are forced to proceed somewhat on 
the previous lines. The hive to receive the swarm 
may either have its mouth opened to the fullest 
extent, with the swarming-board simply fitted up 
under the alighting-board, or it may stand propped 
up without its bottom board, where we find the skep 
(Fig. 73). 
We at length come to consider plans requiring inter- 
changeability of combs — /.(?., uniformity in size of frame — 
a condition more or less obtaining in all well-managed 
apiaries. Here we have every scope, and the possible 
variations are endless, while it would be difficult to 
unreservedly particularise any one of the latter as 
the best, since surrounding circumstances, our faith in 
the facility and safety with which queens may be moved 
from stock to stock, and our methods of raising our 
queens, must often greatly influence our choice in the 
matter. All that has been previously said about the 
advantage of obtaining ripe queen-cells for insertion 
