INTRODUCING. 



287 



INTRODUCING. 



forations. The other hole (that is, at the 

 candy end) is covered over with a piece of 

 pasteboard perforated by a line of holes run- 



BENTON MAILING-CAGE. 



Postage on tins cage is one cent. A larger size for 

 longer distances, as sJiown below, requires two cents. 



ning through the center. The object of 

 these perforations is to give the bees an op- 

 portunity to taste the 

 candy through the holes 

 of the pasteboard; and 

 once having gotten a sip 

 they will gnaw the holes 

 larger, and finally eat 

 away the pasteboard en- 

 tirely. 



Very often, after the 

 cage has been through 

 the mails, and been on 

 the journey for several 

 days, the bees in the 

 cage will have con- 

 sumed two - thirds or 

 three - fourths of the 

 candy. If those in the 

 hive to which the queen 

 is to be introduced gain 

 access to the candy di- 

 rect they would eat out 

 what little there is of il 

 in five or six hours, lib- 

 erate the queen, and 

 probably kill her. In 

 order to accomplish in- 

 troduction safely the 

 cage sliould be^orTthe 

 frames (where the bees 

 can get acquainted with 

 the queen) for at least 

 24 hours, and longer 

 wherever practicable. 

 As it takes anywhere 

 from 12 to 24 hours for 

 the bees to gnaw away 

 the pasteboard before 

 they can get at the can- 



dy, and from 6 to 24 hours to eat out the 

 candy, we are assured of at least 18 hours 

 before the bees can release their new 

 mother; and generally the time is longer 

 — anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. The 

 pasteboard has another advantage, in that 

 it makes the introduction entirely auto- 

 matic. The one who receives the queen 

 pries off the cover protecting the wire 

 cloth, and then by the directions which he 

 reads on the reverse side of this cover he 

 learns that all he has to do is to lay the cage 

 wire clotli down over the space between two 

 brood-frames of the queenless colony, and 

 the bees do tJie rest. It is not even necessary 

 for him to open the hive to release the 

 queen; indeed, he had better let the colony 

 entirely alone for three or four days, its open- 

 ing the hive disturbs and annoys the bees to 

 such an extent that very often they will ball 

 the queen, seeming to lay to her door what 



now BEES AND QUEENS ARE PUT UP IX A MAILING-CAGE. 



