320 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
be better to say forty-eight—the lower door is pushed 
open by means of the wire which may be seen 
projecting at the top, and she is let out to take her 
chances of reception. If there are young bees in the 
hive, they may usually be relied upon to supply her 
with food through the sides of the cage; but if this 
is not the case, the bee-keeper must himself attend 
to her, or else prefer the other form of cage, which 
gives immediate access to the honey-cells. Mr. Raynor 
usually effected the liberation of the queen after dark, 
but others prefer a time when they can watch the 
behaviour of the bees, which very soon shows unmis- 
takably whether they are resolved to receive her or 
are bent upon regicidal purposes. If they enclose her 
in a knot, this should at once be seized upon and 
dropped into a bowl of lukewarm water, when, if the 
queen is not already slain, she must again be im- 
prisoned for a day or two. If royal cells have been 
made, they must be promptly excised, or their presence 
will materially interfere with the new queen’s reception. 
Cases sometimes occur in which an old queen may 
have to be encaged in her own hive. Thus we find 
Mr. Cheshire advising that when, with a view to the 
stoppage of robbing (page 204), two hives are trans- 
posed, the queens in both of these should be in this 
way protected from the danger noted above on page 314. 
