160 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



Mr. Root tests a colony which he suspects is 

 queenless in the following clever way: He takes a 

 cage containing a laying queen and holds it over the 

 frames so that it touches them and the bees may thus 

 get the scent. If the bees have no queen they express 

 their pleasure at this godsend in a very pretty 

 manner by a joyful fluttering of the wings, which 

 conveys the idea of happiness to even our dull 

 senses. To such a colony, the queen may be given 

 with no formalities. 



HOW TO INTRODUCE A QUEEN 



The colony should be made good-natured by 

 having plenty of food. If there is scarcity of honey, 

 the bees should be fed for a day or so, great care 

 being taken not to start other colonies to robbing 

 by exposing the syrup. The queen is then intro- 

 duced in a queen-cage, which should be placed be- 

 tween the brood-combs. This should be done as 

 carefully as possible without disturbing the bees. 

 At the end of forty-eight hours an examination should 

 be made, and if the bees are balling the cage, she 

 should be left twenty-four hours longer. When the 

 bees gather around the cage in normal numbers she 

 may be entrusted to them without fear. 



QUEEN-CAGES 



First of these are the shipping-cages, and it is a 

 thrilling moment when one takes a package from 

 the mail, labelled "Queen Bee, Deliver Quick." 

 And it is still more exciting when the cover slides 



