140 PLEASUBABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



and giving new queens. When bees are added for 

 the purpose of requeening, the bees of the stock must 

 first be driven and the queen captured. The two lots 

 can then be united according to the directions given 

 for uniting. 



Queen Introduction. 



If for any reason it is desirable to introduce a queen 

 to a colony of bees, certain precautions are necessary, 

 otherwise the stranger will be at once killed by the 

 bees of the stock to which she is introduced. Bees 

 apparently distinguish one another to some extent, if 

 not entirely, by scent, and it is very amusing to see 

 how a well-dusted bee flying home from the artificial 

 pollen box is received by the guards. It is not an 

 unusual occurrence for such a bee to be refused 

 admission to the home from which she so recently 

 issued to find and bring home food for the colony. 



Each colony has a distinctive odour, but how it 

 emanates is not clear. Any bee-keeper of experience 

 will know that after handling a queen the bees of that 

 colony will cluster upon the spot where she has been, 

 and behave in a manner that appears to betoken 

 pleasure on scenting the queen. In order, therefore, 

 to introduce an alien queen successfully, we must 

 adopt a means of giving the queen an opportunity to 

 form an acquaintance with the bees, and acquire the 

 scent peculiar to the hive before being liberated ; or 

 steps must be taken to deprive her of the scent, to 

 some extent, peculiar to the stock from which she has 

 been taken. 



The first object is attained by imprisoning the 



