OR, MANTTAI, OF THE APIARY. 313 



clnster, we must at once smoke the bees oflf and recage the 

 queen, else they will hold her a prisoner till she is dead. 



The Peet cage (Figs. 136 and 142), which is not only an 

 introducing but a shipping cage, is a most valuable invention. 

 The back of the cage is tin (Fig. 142), and may be drawn out, 

 which leaves the back of the cage entirely open. The pieces in 

 front (Fig. 136) are to be tacked on in shipping. They prevent 

 the accompanying bees from stinging any one who may handle 

 the cage, and also secure ventilation. The tin points, which 

 turn easily, are turned at right angles to the cage, as shown 

 in the figure. The cage is pressed close up to a smooth piece 

 of comb containing both brood and honey, where it is held by 

 the tin points, and then the tin back is withdrawn. The bees 

 will soon eat under the comb and thus liberate the queen and 

 almost always accept her. I have had such admirable success 

 with this cage that I heartily recommend it. The food in the 

 cage will keep the queen, even though the bees do not feed her 

 through the wire, and there is no honey in the comb. The 

 Benton cage (Fig. 144) is a modification of the Peet cage, and 

 as it is now almost universally used for shipping and intro- 

 ducing, it must be an improvement. Here candy holds the 

 queen a prisoner, and she is safe from starvation until the bees 

 liberate her by eating the candy, which ought, and usually 

 does, make them sweet and amiable. 



Judge Andrews, of Texas, states a valuable point in this 

 connection, which, though I have not tried, I am glad to give. 

 The reputation of Judge Andrews and the value of the sug- 

 gestion alike warrant it. He says the queens will be accepted 

 just as quickly when caged in a hive with a colony of bees, 

 even though the old queen is still at large in the hive. Such 

 caged queens, says the Judge, after two or three days, are just 

 as satisfactory to the worker-bees as though " to the manor 

 born," and even more safe when liberated — of course the old 

 queen is first removed — as the bees start no queen-cells, if the 

 old queen has remained in the hive until this time, and the 

 presence of queen-cells agitates the newly liberated queen, 

 which is pretty sure to cause her destruction. Here, then, we 

 may cage and keep our queens after they have been fecundated 

 in the nuclei, and at any time can take one of these, or the old 



