THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



139 



(but not large enough for the queen) 

 something about the shape of the 

 sharpened end of a lead pencil 

 will do, only a shoulder should be 

 made on the instrument so that 

 each aperture will be the same 

 size. We can supply these small 

 tools if desired. 



The bees will enter the cages 

 through these little doors and clus- 

 ter upon the cells and the queens 

 will emerge nice and strong and 

 the same attention paid them as if 

 they were on the combs instead of 

 in cages. Then, again, the young 

 queens are much better contented 

 by having the bees in the cages with 

 them. Another advantage of this 

 method is that no food is needed 

 in the cages, while each cage must 

 be supplied and no bees permitted 

 to enter it if in a hive having a lay- 

 ing queen ;then again if the nursery 

 is inserted in a queenless colony the 

 queens may remain there without 

 detriment for ten days or two 

 weeks, or until needed, but bear in 

 mind we do not advise anything 

 of the kind. If possible, have all 

 the young queens introduced to 

 nuclei by the fourth day after they 

 emerge from the cells. By the vvay, 

 who can say that ten or more days 

 of confinement will imperil the ferti- 

 lization of a queen, since we all 

 know that the weather -is such 

 sometimes that no queen will 

 leave the hive for two weeks at 

 a time to become fertilized? The 

 danger is not in keeping a queen 

 confined, but in passing too many 

 days without a flight to meet the 

 drone. 



If the nursery is inserted in a 

 hive having a laying queen, the 

 bees may l)e allowed to enter the 

 cages the first two days, but unless 

 the nursery is removed when the 

 queens are forty-eight hours old all 

 will be destroyed. This matter we 

 tested a few years ago ; the young 

 queens were allowed to live until 

 the third day when they were in- 



variably destroyed by being 

 "balled" in the cages. 



If I have not made this suffi- 

 ciently plain for the reader to un- 

 derstand, I would be pleased to 

 answer any questions on this or 

 any other subject relating to bee- 

 keeping. 



THE LAMP-NURSERY. 



To A. I. Root belongs the credit 

 for inventing the lamp-nursery. 

 This arrangement for hatching 

 queen-cells consists of a tin tank 

 filled with water which is kept at 

 the proper temperature by the heat 

 of a lamp. It is so arranged that 

 the queen-cells are placed in a sort 

 of oven. So far as we have no- 

 ticed no one has ever used queen 

 cages in connection with the lamp- 

 nursery and allowed the queens to 

 hatch in them, but have merely 

 placed the cells in the oven and 

 opened it often to see if any queens 

 have emerged. I suggested in a 

 recent article to the American Bee 

 Jcmrnnl that cages, well supplied 

 with food, be used for the cells, as 

 then no particular attention would 

 be necessary until the queens were 

 old enough to be introduced. The 

 lamp-nursery is, no doubt, in the 

 hands of an experienced apiarist, 

 a good thing for one who rears a 

 large number of queens, but the 

 small beekeeper needs nothing of 

 the kind unless his ambition leads 

 him to experiment and investigate 

 "•beeology." 



QUESTIONS-AND ANSWERS. 



QUESTIONS BY OLD "BEEKEEPER." 



REMOVING SECTIONS AND CAIJE OF 

 HONEY. 



1. Do you remove the sections from 

 the liive as soon as filled? What rlo 

 you do with the honey previous to dis- 

 posing of it, oriu other words, how do 



