Clipping Queen's Wing. 243 
cage. A cell is put into each of these, and then they may 
be put into any hive. Of course the bees can not destroy 
the cell, as they can not get atit. Dr. Jewell Davis’s queen 
nursery consists of a frame filled with such cages, which 
can be hung in any hive. I have tried both, and prefer 
this to the lamp nursery. 
SHALL WE CLIP THE QUEEN’S WING? 
In the above operation, as in many other manipulations 
of the hive, we shall often gain sight of the queen, and can, 
if we desire, clip her wing, zf she has met the drone; but 
never before, that in no case she shall lead the colony away 
to parts unknown. This is an old practice, for Virgil 
speaks of retaining the bees by tearing off the wings of 
“the king.” This does not injure the queen, as some 
have claimed. |General Adair once stated that such treat- 
mertt injured the queen, as it cut off some of the air tubes, 
which view was approved by so excellent a naturalist as 
Dr. Packard. Yet I am sure that this is all a mistake. 
The air tube and blood vessel, as we have seen, go to the 
wings to carry nourishment to these members. With the 
wi.ig goes the necessity of nourishment and the need of the 
tubes. As well say that the amputation of the human leg 
or arm would enfeeble the constitution, as it would cut off 
the supply of blood. 
Many of our best-apiarists have practiced this clipping 
of the queen’s wings for years. Yet these queens show no 
diminution of vigor; we should suppose they would be 
even more vigorous, as useless organs are always nourished 
at the expense of the organism, and if entirely useless, are 
seldom long continued by nature. The ants set us an exam- 
ple in this matter, as they bite the wings off their queens, 
after mating has transpired. They mean that the queen 
shall remain at home, zolens volens, and why shall not we 
require the same of the queen bee? Were it not for the 
necessity of swarming in nature, we should doubtless have 
been anticipated in this matter by nature herself. 
Some of our first apiarists think that queens with wings 
clipped are not as acceptable to the other bees. I have now 
had experience for eighteen years in this practice, and have 
