80 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



to a stick, supplied with tiny larvae, built out and cared for in a 

 colony that has not even been deprived of its queen; and, best of all, 

 the fertilization of a queen is now secured by using a mere handful 

 of bees, where once were used at least two full-sized combs and a 

 quart or two of bees. 



For making the artificial cells there is needed a "dipping--stick, " 

 which is a round stick, 5-16 of an inch in diameter, with a peculiar 

 taper at one end. The tapering part should be about 5-16 of an inch 

 long, reduced rapidly for the first }i of an inch, and then gradually 

 reduced to the end. It should slip into a worker cell /^ of an inch 

 before filling the mouth of the cell. These dipping sticks 

 can be made with a lathe, from any kind of hard wood. 

 f lllll Heart-cedar is best, as the water is slow to penetrate it, con- 

 sequently, there is a little swelling. To dip the cells, bees- 

 wax must be kept just above the melting point by placing the 

 dish containing it over a lighted lamp. Keep a little water 

 in the dish, as this will be a guide to the temperature. No 

 bubbling should be allowed. The stick, after being 

 thoroughly soaked in water, is dipped rather less than /^ 

 inch deep into the wax; four dips usually completing the cell 

 and attaching it to the wooden bar upon which it is to be sup- 

 ported while in the hive. Dip three times, then loosen up 

 the cup on the stick, then dip again, and immediately press 

 the base of the cell upon the stick at the point where it is de- 

 sired to have the cell remain. The cooling of the wax at- 

 taches the cell to the stick. If the stick or slat to which the 

 cells are to be attached is soaked in melted wax until the fry- 

 ing or bubbling ceases, before attempting to attach the cells, 

 they will adhere much better. If the queens are to be allowed 

 to hatch while the cells are still attached to the stick, they 

 being protected by some sort of a nursery, then there must 

 be some kind of notches, or marks, on the stick to guide the 

 operator in getting the cells attached at exactly the right 

 ||l'|il places. An excellent method of managing this part of the 

 "■"-^ business is to have a whole "battery" of dipping sticks 

 thrust through holes bored at regular intervals in a wooden bar, 

 when the whole row of cells can be dipped at only one operation. 

 Five of these "batteries" can be kept in operation at one time; by the 

 time the last one has been dipped, the first one has cooled sufficiently 

 to be dipped again. After the fourth dip, while the wax is still hot and 

 soft, the bases of the cells are pressed down upon the stick. As soon 

 as the wax has cooled enough so that the cells will stick to the wooden 

 slat, the slat is lowered into the wax until the wax covers it from end 



