180 DR. miller's 



and then set the old hive over all. At the same time the caged 

 queen is put into the upper hive. By the time the bees have eaten 

 out the candy and liberated the queen, or some time before it, all 

 the field-bees have joined the lower hive, and the queen is kindly 

 received by the younger bees. In two or three days, when the 

 queen has begun to lay, the hive may be returned to its original 

 place, and the fielders will make no trouble when they enter. 



Q. What is the best way to introduce a valuable queen? 



A. With a very valuable queen, if you want to be entirely 

 safe, proceed in this way: Put two, three, or more frames of 

 brood in an upper story over a strong colony, having a queen- 

 excluder between the two stories. In about eight days all the 

 brood will be sealed. Now lift the upper story, take away, the ex- 

 cluder, and cover the hive with wire-cloth, which will not admit 

 the passage of a bee. Over the wire-cloth set an empty hive- 

 body. One by one lift the frames out of the removed upper story, 

 brushing o£f upon the ground in front of the hive all the bees 

 from each comb, and putting the brushed combs into the empty 

 upper story. Put your new queen into the upper story and cover 

 up, making very sure that not a bee can get in or out. Your 

 queen is now alone in the upper story, but will probably have 

 company within five minutes, for young bees will be hatching out 

 constantly from the sealed brood. Xo bee can get from one 

 story to the other, but the heat can rise from below to keep the 

 upper story warm. In about five days you can set this upper story 

 on a new stand, giving it entrance for only one bee at a time. If 

 your bees act like mine have done, and the circvtmstances are 

 favorable, before night you will see some of the five-day-old bees 

 entering the hive with pollen on their legs. 



Q. Please explain the Abbott plan of introducing queens. 



A. Put the new queen in a hive with a provisioned cage with 

 the candy protected so the bees of the hive cannot get at it. In 

 about two days remove the old queen and give the bees access 

 to the candy so they may liberate the queen. 



Q. I wish you would explain as clearly as possible how to in- 

 troduce a queen by the smoke method. 



A. In "Gleanings in Bee Culture," what you call the smoke 

 plan of introduction was thus given by Arthur C. Miller, of Rhode 

 Island: "A colony to receive a queen has the entrance reduced 

 to about a square inch with whatever is convenient, as grass, 

 weeds, rags, or wood, and then about three puffs of thick, white 



