[CHAPTER VI.]
PURCHASE OF BEES.
Every one who meditates the establishment of an apiary, should be able to distinguish a good from a bad hive of bees, that he may detect imposition, if it should be attempted, when he is purchasing his first swarms or stocks. Bees are commonly purchased in the spring or in the autumn. The value of a hive of bees, purchased in the spring, if it be a recent swarm, may be ascertained by its weight, which should not be less than four or five pounds, on the day of swarming. But the weight alone, of a stock hive, is not a criterion of its worth; several other circumstances are to be considered,—for the worst stock hives often weigh the heaviest. Still if a stock-hive be a swarm of the current year, which is always desirable, weight may be regarded in a great degree, as a criterion of value, its quantity of heterogeneous matters being probably inconsiderable. Such a hive, purchased in the autumn, should not weigh less than from twenty-five to thirty pounds, and should contain about half a bushel of bees.
There are surer grounds, however, upon which its value may be determined.
1st. The combs should be of a pale colour, as dark ones denote age; though even in this there may be deception, for old combs may be lengthened out and bordered with new wax.
2ndly. The combs should be worked down to the floor of the hive.
3rdly. The interstices of the combs should be crowded with bees.