148 QUEENS. 
to come upon the abdomen. They may be often confined 
in a cage, without touching with the hand. Place the 
cage 1n front of her upon the comb, and with the stopper 
gently induce her to enter. Jf one or more bees pass in 
with her, all the better. When ready to liberate her, she 
will pass from the cage to the combs without difficulty. 
The form of cage described was designed with this special 
point in view. The value of a good queen should ever be 
borne in mind, and in all operations great care exercised, 
that she does not receive injury. When they are deposit- 
ing eggs most freely, they become very large and heavy, 
and will sometimes drop to the ground during the manip- 
ulation of the combs. To avoid this, have a cage at 
hand, and confine the queen during necessary operations 
with the combs, and return her when ready to close the 
hive. 
-AGE OF QUEENS, 
The bee-keeper should keep a record of the age of all 
the queens in his apiary. Some advise hanging a small 
slate upon the front of each hive, and for making any 
immediate record, 1t will be found very convenient. I 
advise numbering each hive, and using what I call a yard- 
book, devoting a page to each hive, numbered to corre- 
spond. In this book, the age of the queen may be kept, 
and any other tacts which it may be useful to remember. 
I have kept such books for each apiary away from home, 
with much satisfaction. It was our habit to visit such 
apiaries once each week. I have studied the condition of 
these colonies as recorded in this book, the evening before 
visiting them, and found myself working much more un- 
derstandingly the following day. 
When one has purchased a valuable queen at much ex- 
pense, or 1f one has been reared that proves to be more 
than ordinarily good, the owner will be slow to destroy 
her, so long as she deposits worker eggs, even though she 
