40 
weighed and marked, that the quantity of honey 
within may be ascertained. 
The practical directions given by writers for 
the weight of a good swarm, are not, perhaps, 
perfectly correct ; writers diifer in regard to the 
number required to weigh a pound. A swaTm 
weighing four pounds, is supposed to contain 
about twenty thousand bees, and the best swarms 
seldom weigh more than six pounds. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 
Artificial swarms may be produced by talcing 
brood comb from the lower part of the hive, in 
the month of April, or first part of May. The 
comb taken, should contain brood three days old 
or less ; place it in one or both of the drawers in a 
perpendicular position, then remove the old hive 
some distance from the apiary, place the new hive 
containing the brood, where the old one hung in 
the apiary. The bees now returning from the 
field, and finding a hive like that which they had 
left, lodge themselves there, nourish the brood, 
and from the brood, produce a queen and prosper. 
Swarms formed thus early, have all the advan- 
tages of early blossoms, and although few in 
numbers at first, after being furnished with their 
new queen increase rapidly, and in a good season 
make a tolerable stock hive. 
SITUATION OF AN APIARY. 
An apiary should be situated in a quiet place, 
where the bees may perform their labors undis- 
