ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 235 



of both the parties, and the race of bees would be in danger 

 of becoming extinct. 



The unwillingness of a swarm of bees, which has been 

 deprived of its queen, to receive another, until after some 

 time has elapsed, must always be borne in mind, by those 

 who have anything to do with making artificial swarms. 

 About 24 hours must elapse before it will be safe to intro- 

 duce a strange mother into' a queenless hive ; and even then, 

 if she is not fertile, she will run a great risk of being de- 

 stroyed. To prevent such losses, I adopt the German plan 

 of confining the queen, in what they call," a queen cage." 

 A small hole, about as large as a thimble, may be gouged 

 out of a block, and covered over with wire gauze, or any 

 other kind of perforated cover, so that when the queen 

 is put in, the bees cannot enter to destroy her. Before 

 long, they will cultivate an acquaintance, by thrusting their 

 antennse through to her ; so that, when she is liberated 

 the next day, they will gladly adopt her in place of the 

 one they have lost. If a hole large enough for her to 

 creep out, is closed with wax, they will gnaw the wax 

 away, and liberate her themselves, from her confinement. 

 Queens that seem bent on departing to the woods, may 

 be confined in the same way, until the colony has given 

 up all thoughts of forsaking its hive. A small paste-board 

 box with suitable holes, or a wooden match-box thoroughly 

 scalded, I have found to answer a very good purpose. 



I shall here describe what may be called a Queen Nurse- 

 ry which I have contrived to aid those who are engaged in 

 the rapid multiplication of colonies by artificial means. 

 A solid block about an inch and a quarter thick, is substituted 

 for one of my frames ; holes, about one and a half inches in 

 diameter, are bored through it, and covered on both sides, 

 with gauze wire slides ; the wire ought to be such as will 



