SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 71 



dispersed with copious puffs of smoke, and the queen must be 

 caged again. 



The " Ray nor " cage (fig. 37, b) is a very good one ; the 

 queen is placed in it, and it is inserted between two combs, 

 down through the feed hole, the flange at the top of the cage 

 resting on the top bar of the frame on each side. Care should 

 be taken that the sides of the cage press close against some 

 honey which has just been uncapped, so that the queen may be 

 able to feed through the perforations in the cage; otherwise she 

 may get starved to death. About forty-eight hours afterwards 

 — in the evening — the wire may be pressed down, and the 

 queen released, if the hive is quiet and the bees seemingly well- 

 disposed towards her. It should be noted that when a queen 

 is introduced by any method of caging, any queen cells which 

 the bees may have formed must be cut out, otherwise the bees 

 are almost sure to kill the new queen. When we give a queen 

 to a hive by the method of direct introduction, it is unnecessaiy 

 to cut out the queen cells previously. 



Direct Introduction. 



Of the various methods of direct introduction practised in 

 this country, the " Simmins " method is undoubtedly the most 

 popular ; and as it is not my intention, in this little work, to 

 confuse the amateur by detailing a number of ways of ac- 

 complishing the same object, I shall only explain the " Simmins " 

 method of direct introduction, which possesses several advantages 

 over the other methods at present introduced. Mr. Simmins' 

 directions are as follows : — 

 " 1. Keep the queen quite alone for not less than thirty 

 minutes. 



2. She is to be without food meanwhile. 



3. And to be allowed to run down, from the top of the 



frames, after darkness has set in, by lamplight." 

 The queen may be kept in a " safety " match box for the thirty 

 minutes during which she is kept alone and without food, but 

 the same match-box must not be used twice. She should be 

 kept in a warm room, so as not to get chilled meanwhile. 

 When ready the operator should go to the hive, give a puff of 

 smoke to drive back the bees, then turn up the corner of the 

 quilt, and let the queen run down among the bees in the centre 

 of the hive. No further examination of the hive must be made 



