THOUSAND ANSWERS 43 



perienced at the business; I think the other had never carried 

 bees before. Each man picked up his hive, carried it in his arms 

 into the cellar and set it in its place. You may judge of the quiet- 

 ness of the bees when I tell you that no sort of protection was 

 used in the way of gloves, veils or smoke, and the entrances were 

 left wide open. There was one exception; I had failed to staple 

 on the bottom-board of one hive, and when the bottom dropped 

 off I had to use smoke to fasten it on. But I must hasten to add 

 that last year was exceptional. I think they were never carried 

 before without veil or gloves, for at least a few colonies would 

 ptove troublesome. I don't know what made the difference. Per- 

 haps the bees were in an unusually dormant condition. 



I am unable to say why your bees should act so differently. 

 Some bees are more irritable than others ; but I doubt if your bees 

 are worse than mine in that respect. Perhaps one secret is in 

 having the bees undisturbed for a long time before they are car- 

 ried, and then being set down so quickly that they do not have 

 time to get fully waked up. When they are in the most quiet con- 

 dition it takes two or three minutes to get them thoroughly 

 aroused, and in that time they are in place in the cellar. If they 

 are stirred up ever so little, they are easily stirred up a few min- 

 utes later. 



Cellar Wintering (See Wintering.) 



Cells, Kinds of. — Q. Describe and tell how to know a queen or 

 drone-cell from a worker-cell. 



A. Lay a rule on the cells. If they measure five to the inch, 

 they are worker-cells ; if four to the inch, they are drone-cells ; if 

 larger and shaped like an acorn cup, they are queen-cells. 



Cell-Protectors. — Q. How are those little cone-shaped wire 

 queen-cell protectors used? I have a number of them, but did 

 not use them because I could not make them cover the cell as I 

 thought they ought. 



A. The protector must be large enough to cover the whole 

 of the cell after all superfluous wax has been trimmed from the 

 cell. The point of the cell is put in the hole of the protector, 

 and the four points of the wire-cloth twisted together. A 

 slender wire has one end fastened to the protector and the other 

 end of the wire is fastened to the middle of a nail. Two frames 

 are pulled apart, the cell is let down between them, so that the 

 cell will be at the middle of the frames, and the nail across the 



