238 Starting Nuclei. 
has brood, and so on, till there are as many nuclei prepared 
as we have queen-cells to dispose of. The bees should be 
left adhering to the frames of comb, only we must be cer- 
tain that the queen is not among them, as this would take 
the queen from where she is most needed, and would lead 
to the sure destruction of one queen-cell. To be sure of 
this, we never take such frames till we have seen the queen, 
that we may be szre she is left behind. It is well to close 
the nucleus for at least twenty-four hours, so that enough 
bees will surely remain to cover the combs, and so prevent 
the brood from becoming chilled. If any desire the nuclei 
with smaller frames, these frames must of course be filled 
with comb, and then we can shake bees immediately into 
the nuclei, till they shall have sufficient to preserve a proper 
temperature. Such special articles about the apiary are 
costly and inconvenient. I believe that I should use hives 
even with the largest frames for nuclei. L.C. Root, who 
uses the large Quinby frame uses the same for his nuclei. 
In this case we should need to give more bees. Twenty- 
four hours after we have formed this nucleus, we are 
ready to insert the queen-cell. We may do it sooner, even 
at once, but always at the risk of having the cell destroyed. 
To insert the queen-cell—for we are now to give one to 
each nucleus, so we can never form more nuclei than we 
have capped queen-cells—we first cut it out, using a sharp 
thin-bladed knife, commencing to cut on either side the 
base of the cell, at least one-half inch distant, for we 
must not in the least compress the cell, then cutting up 
and out for two inches, then across opposite the cell. This 
leaves the cell attached to a wedge-shaped piece of comb 
(Fig. 93), whose apex is next to the cell. A similar cut 
in the middle frame of the nucleus, which in case of the 
regular frames is the one containing brood, will furnish an 
opening to receive the wedge containing the cell. The 
comb should also be cut away beneath (Fig. 93), so that 
the cell cannot be compressed. Mr. Root advises a circu- 
lar cut (Fig. 93). Of late I have just placed the cell 
between two frames, and succeed just as well. If two or 
more fine cells are so close together that separation is 
impossible, then all may be inserted in a nucleus. By close 
