88 PRACTICAL QUEEN REARING 



to prevent the spread of disease through the honey, he recom- 

 mends the use of invert sugar as a substitute for the honey. 



Another kind of candy made without the use of honey, 

 is used by some breeders. This is made by using 12 pounds of 

 granulated sugar, 1^ pounds candy-makers' glucose, \% 

 quarts of water and ^ teaspoonful of cream of tartar. The 

 cream of tartar and glucose are added to the water and heated 

 together in a kettle. The sugar is added after the mixture 

 comes to a boil, stirring continually while putting in the sugar. 

 After the sugar has all been dissolved, stop stirring and let it 

 heat to 238 degrees. Then remove from the fire and let cool 

 to 120 degrees, and stir again until it looks like paste, when it is 

 ready for use. 



Caging the Queens. 



With a few trials, one will shortly get the knack of catching 

 a queen off the comb by her wings. Holding the cage open end 

 downward in one hand, it is easy to so place her head in the open- 

 ing that she will catch her front feet on the wood, and readily 

 climb up into the cage. When she goes in, the thumb should 

 be placed over the opening until a worker is caught, and ready 

 to follow in similar manner. The novice at queen rearing often 

 makes the mistake of placing too few bees in the cage with a 

 queen. It is well to place as many workers in the cage as there 

 is room for, without crowding, especially if the journey to be 

 taken is a long one. As a rule the queen will be the last to die, 

 if the bees are in normal condition when placed in the cage. 

 It often happens that queens received from a distant place are 

 still alive, with all their attendant workers dead in the cage. 

 Of course the queen would not much longer survive after the 

 workers were all dead. If the candy is properly made and suffi- 

 cient in quantity, a queen will often live for several weeks in 

 a cage, with sufficient attendants. 



After queens are caged they should be placed in the mails as 

 quickly as possible to avoid confining them longer than is neces- 

 sary. Although they live for a considerable time in the cages, 

 one can hardly believe that the confinement is conducive to 



