CHAPTER IV. =ESTABLISHING AN APIARY: TIME--SELECTING HIVES OF BEES--MOVING BEES--SELECTION OF SITE.= Spring is the best season to establish an apiary, especially for a person unacquainted with the practical care of bees. Colonies in good condition procured then are more easily kept in order by the novice than if purchased in the fall. Mistakes in management may possibly be remedied before the season closes, and by the time it is necessary to prepare for the winter the learner will have gained a certain amount of practical knowledge of the nature and requirements of the bees. If the start be made late in the season mistakes, if they occur, may result fatally before the proper remedy can be applied. The beginner had better obtain his start by purchasing one or two colonies of pure Italian or Carniolan bees in accurately made frame hives and in first-class condition. These he should get from some bee-master of repute near his own place, if possible, in order to avoid expressage and possible damage through long confinement or numerous transfers. The cost per colony may be $6 to $8; yet bees at this price will generally be found much cheaper in the end, for, though common bees in box hives may frequently be obtained for half or even less than half as much, the cost, when finally transferred into frame hives, fitted up with straight combs, and the common queens replaced by Italians or Carniolans, will not be less. The possession of a colony already in prime working order gives the novice a standard with which to compare all others and often enables him to avoid costly experiments. Another plan, also commendable, is to agree with some neighboring bee keeper to deliver as many first swarms on the day they issue as are wanted. These will give the right start if placed as soon as received in hives with foundation starters and the frames properly spaced--1⅜ inches from center to center, it being understood that the swarms are early and prime ones, with vigorous queens. Only those issuing from colonies that have swarmed the year before or from such as were themselves second swarms of the previous year should be accepted. Swarms from these will have queens not over one year old. It is better to have queens of the current year's raising, but these can only be obtained by taking the second or third swarms from a given hive, which come later and are smaller, or by substituting young queens for those which come with the swarms. SELECTION OF STOCKS.