i6o A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



four hours, when the excitement of the Bees at the loss 

 of their old Queen will have passed away, and the new 

 one will generally be gladly accepted. It is advisable 

 to sprinkle the Bees and Queen liberally with scented 

 syrup both on the introduction and release. When the 

 above time has elapsed, open the cage gently and let 

 her majesty walk out. Watch carefully the Workers.. 

 If they take no notice of her or merely walk over, licking 

 and feeding her, all is well and she may be safely left ; 

 but if she be seized by the legs and wings, and the Bees 

 assemble tumultuously about her, beware ! In a few 

 minutes the Bees gather into a ball with the Queen in 

 the midst, when regicide is meant. Take up the knot of 

 Bees and drop them into a cup of water, which will 

 effectually separate the cluster and hurt none ; or pull 

 off the Bees until the Queen is released, and immediately 

 • cage her again for another day's imprisonment, when the 

 same process must be repeated with probably, a better 

 result. If a cluster is again formed, try the effect of 

 worrying them about with some tobacco-smoke for a few 

 minutes, when most likely they will give up in disgust. 



We must bear in mind that the great secret for the 

 successful introduction of an alien Queen is to familiar- 

 ize the Workers with her before giving them a chance of 

 killing her, for though it is true Bees, in the excitement 

 of driving or swarming, may take a Queen then given 

 and not discover an exchange has been made, and even 

 when they have found themselves to be Queenless and 

 all in consternation gladly accept a new sovereign, the 

 experiment is too dangerous to risk without precaution. 

 It will be at once perceived how, by the proper manage- 

 ment of nucleus hives, enough Queens may be bred from 

 one Ligurian to supply any number of hives, the only 

 difficulty being to obtain pure impregnation ; and this 



