THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 



23 



in figures 10, 11, and 12, is excellent 

 n this form is used the queens must 

 This nursery is more valuable when 



The Swarthmore nursery,. shown 

 also, but it is unfortunate that whe 

 be removed to introducing cages 

 used for keeping queens on 

 hand for some time after 

 mating'. Queens can be re- 

 moved from the mating col- 

 onies and. stored in them for 

 several weeks even, without 

 any harm; and the mating 

 colony can be used several 

 times in that period for mat- 

 ing other queens. The size 

 of this nursery is very con- 

 venient, and -iS queens may 

 be kept in a frame, as shown 



^ ^ f^ 7 fV, "ll ■ Fig. 14.— "Swarthmore" nucleus with one frame removed 



in ngure l^. m tne mus- to show construction (original). 



tration these queens were 



actually Caucasian virgins, and the nursery had been used for 

 emerging queens. This is not the most convenient nursery for virgin 

 queens, and the author understands that the originator, Mr. E. L. Pratt. 



does not so use it. 



A nursery, then, should be so 

 constructed that the queen will be 

 separated from the workers b}' 

 wire cloth; should be of such a 

 form that any style of artificial 

 queen cell ma}^ be placed in it; 

 should contain a place for cand}^ 

 as food for the young queen; and 

 should above all be useful as an 

 introducing cage. The use of a 

 special introducing cage of any 

 type is not generally recommended. 

 Even in introducing queens re- 

 ceived by mail the shipping cage is 

 as good as any "improved" intro- 

 ducing cage and saves time. 



INTRODUCING QUEEN CELLS. 



Fig. 15.— "Swarthmore" nucleus with introducing 

 cage (as in flg. 13) in place between the frames But it may be asked, " W h}^ liot 



(original). introduce queen cells directl}^ to the 



colony where the queen is to stay until mated?" This method is all 

 right where time is no object; but the queens might just as well be 

 kept in a nursery until three to iive days old, and thus they need not 



