326 A Modern Bee-Farm 
must now prepare for their reception in nuclei. These are 
small hives to hold from three to six frames, the latter 
being more serviceable for our purpose, as there is room 
to add fresh combs of brood when necessary. 
It seldom happens that good nuclei can be made up 
from a stock which at the time has its queen, therefore my 
own plan is in the first place to make up a nucleus with 
the’ queen of the most suitable colony, being one very 
populous, having a number of combs with hatching brood 
in each. Place this queen with one frame of brood and 
bees, and enough more to cover two other combs, on a new 
stand. On the third day thereafter make up further nuclei 
in like manner from the same hive, leaving the younger 
brood in the original hive, as there will be plenty of bees 
to take care of the same. Bearing in mind they have 
already lost their queen and having prepared for building 
queen cells, no farther excitement will take place and not 
one-fourth of the number of bees will return to the old 
hive, as when the nuclei are drawn from one with a queen 
presiding. 
Insert the young queens the same evening by allowing 
them to run in direct, or place them in that most useful 
Tubular Virgin Queen Cage, 
originated by myself, and which has been in use in my own 
apiary for many years. It was described in my 1888 
edition, and again in that of 1893. It is a small ‘tube of 
perforated tin or zinc, a full half-inch in diameter, and some 
two inches long. 
The numerous advantages of this tubular cage have 
unfolded themselves by a gradual process of adaptation in 
my practice over a period of many years. As soon as I 
designed my new cell frame with detachable pegs in 1894, 
I saw how readily they would work in confining the young 
