258 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



closed in a cage, the bees are very slow about removing- 

 it, so the cage gives us a better chance for judging. 



APPEARANCE OF VACATED CELLS. 



In Fig. 94 the first three cells at the left have the cap 

 still adhering by a neck, showing that it has been only a 

 short time since the queen emerged, providing the cell 

 has not been caged ; if it has been caged the queen may 

 have been out some time. The fourth cell looks entire, 

 as if it yet contained a young queen. But it is decep- 

 tive. The bees have a trick of fastening the cap back 

 again as if it were a great joke, sometimes thus impris- 

 oning one of their own number. A very close look will 

 generally show a little crack, and a very little force will 

 be needed to pick the cap loose. The next six cells show 

 plainly that a young queen has emerged from each, and 

 finding a cell of that kind is just as good evidence as a 

 sight of the queen ; only I would a little rather see the 

 queen for the bare chance that she may not have perfect 

 wings. As already mentioned, the cell at the extreme 

 right shows by the hole in its side that no queen ever 

 came out of it alive. 



MILLER QUEEN NURSERY. 



Whatever the advantages of using queen-cells instead 

 of virgin queens, there are also advantages in having 

 the young queens hatch out in a queen nursery. So I 

 have made considerable use of a nursery of my own de- 

 vising. Fig. 885^. It may take the place of a brood- 

 frame in any hive, in the lower story or in an upper story. 

 and it does not matter whether a laying queen is in the 

 hive or not. 



For this nursery I use a regular ?yliller frame, which 

 lends itself to the purpose admirably, top-bar, bottom- 

 bar and end-bar being all of the same width, 1% inches. 

 If you haven't a Miller frame, you can easily make a 

 frame having all parts the same width, 1^ inches; only 

 be sure the end-bars are at least ^ thick, and have the 

 outer dimensions of the frame the same as the frames 



