THE ALLEY PLAN 49 



handled. If none but old, tough comb is to be had, cut the cells 

 down to one-fourth inch in depth. The knife must be sharp 

 to leave it smooth and not tear it." 



While practicing the method just described, he said in his 

 book, that in many respects he preferred to rear queens in a 

 strong colony made queenless. 



The Alley Plan. 



Henry Alley made a distinct advance when he developed his 

 plan of using strips of worker comb containing eggs or just 

 hatched larvae. Before describing his method of preparing these 

 cells, it is best, perhaps, to outline his plan of preparing the 

 bees to receive them so that his whole method may be clearly 

 explained. 



He recommended taking the best colony in the apiary to use 

 as cell builders. After the queen had been found, her bees were 

 brushed into a "swarm box," which has a wire-cloth top and 

 bottom, to admit the air. "The bees should be kept queenless 

 for at least ten hours in the swarming box, else the eggs given 

 them for cell building will be destroyed. Soon after being put 

 into it they will miss their queen and keep up an uproar until 

 released." 



The bees in the swarm box were kept in a cool room or cellar 

 and fed a pint of syrup. In the meantime the old hive has been 

 removed and a queen rearing hive placed on the old stand. At 

 night the bees are returned to the new hive on the old stand and 

 given cell building material provided as follows : 



In the center of the hive containing the breeding queen an 

 empty comb has been placed four days previously. This will 

 now contain eggs and hatching larvae. The bees are carefully 

 brushed ofif this comb and it is taken into a warm room to be 

 cut into strips. With a thin, sharp knife, which must be kept 

 warm to avoid bruising the comb, the comb is cut through every 

 alternate row of cells. After the comb has been cut up into 

 strips, these are laid flat on a table and the cells on one side of 

 the midrib are cut down to within a quarter of an inch of the 



