REARING IMPROVED RACES. 



269 



Fig. 100. 



QTJEEN-CELLj 

 HEMOVED. 



them. On the same day, make swarms, 

 (4'i'5) or nuclei, (522) or destroy worth- 

 less queens (155) which you desire to re- 

 place next day. 



517. The next day, with a sharp pen- 

 knife, carefully remove a piece of comb, an 

 inch or more square, that contains a queen- 

 cell (Fig. 100), and in one of the brood 

 combs of the hive to which this cell is to be 

 given, cut a place just large enough to re- 

 ceive and hold it in a natural position, 

 (Fig. 101.) 



Each queenless stock can thus be supplied with a queen, 

 ready to hatch, from the best breeding mother. 



Fig. 101. 

 (From Gravenhorst. ) 



CUTTING OUT AND INSERT- 

 ING QUEEN-CELLS. 



Unsealed cell. B, in- 

 serted cell. C, Unfin- 

 ished cell. D, Deceptive 

 cell just begun. 



Unless very great care is used in transferring a royal cell, 

 its inmate will be destroyed, as her body, mitil she is nearly 

 mature, is so exceedingly soft, that a slight compression of 

 her cell— especially near the base, where there is no cocoon— 

 generally proves fatal. For this reason, it is best to defer 

 removing them, until they are within three or four days of 

 hatching. A queen-cell, nearly mature, may be known by 

 its having the wax removed from the lid, by the bees, so as 

 to give it a brown appearance. 



518. If the weather is warm, and the hive, to which a 



