90 THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 



queen has appeared, and the hive itself, and then remove the glass 

 away on its plate, putting it aside till it is wanted.* 



The next thing to be done is to thrust in all the slides ; after which, 

 remove the stock box to the place in the apiary destined for the re- 

 ception of the new colony, leaving the other box behind,t which, if it 

 have some comb and honey in it, is in so much the better circumstan- 

 ces. Now, (if it have not been done before,) set the glass containing 

 the queen over one of the holes over this side box, and one of the 

 new colonies is formed. 



A strict watch must now be kept upon the old box, whose occu- 

 pants, (as at the time of the division of the colony,) are still imprison- 

 ed. Should the quicksilver rise to 100° P., or near it, J part of the 

 population must be suffered to escape — the box being kept as cool as 

 possible in the meanwhile — until the heat descends to below 90". 

 If the temperature of the box should not rise beyond this, (or as soon 

 as it has become reduced to this,) let the bees be kept close prisoners 

 for forty-eight hours, by which time — if there was any suitable brood 

 in the hive — they will have commenced the formation of royal cells 

 preparatory to the raising of 'an artificial queen. They may then, 

 very early in the morning, or better towards evening, be released with 

 safety ; some may and probably will return to the old hive, but the 

 greater body of them will remain true to their new home and expected 

 sovereign, having altogether forgotten their old attachments. Of course, 

 the earlier in the season this operation can be done, the better, chiefly, 

 because that then, no fears need reasonably be entertained as to 

 whether there exists in the hive suitable brood for rearing an artificial 

 queen or not. In one of my boxes, the fact may generally be ascer- 

 tained by looking in at the windows, of which the more — and the lar- 

 ger they are — the better. But, indeed, it may be taken for granted, 

 that a sufficiency of eggs or larvae of a proper age, will be always 

 found in a good stock, worked on the depriving system, during the 



* Air must be given to the imprisoned bees, or they might die of suffocation, especially if 

 very numerous in the glass. 



t I suppose it to have previously intervened between the " pavilion" where the queen 

 was, and the open air. 



t A thermometer is almost indispensable in the box for the perfect success of this 

 operation. 



