and its Economic Management. 159 



INTRODUCTION BY CAGING. 



Procure a cage made of fine perforated zinc i-J-inch in. 

 diameter, and i-inch deep, having one end only closed with the 

 same material. When the queen arrives place her in this- 

 cage while yet indoors, slip a thin card under and carry her tO' 

 the hive. Without removing the frames other than to give 

 plenty of room laterally, slide the cage carefully from the card 

 on to uncapped cells of honey, within the margin of the 

 cluster,' and press it down to the mid-rib of the comb with a 

 cutting motion. The queen now has plenty of food, and if the 

 perforations are fine enough the bees are unable to molest her.. 

 After forty-eight hours, give a puff or two of smoke, carefully 

 examine the condition of the bees nearest the cage, and if 

 simply passing their tongues through the perforations, the 

 queen may be released .without fear of the bees attacking her, 

 but all the same watch their actions closely for a 'few moments. 

 If all is well the bees will gather around her, but not thickly ;. 

 those nearest will clean her with their tongues, while one or 

 two may be seen feeding her. Under that condition the hive 

 may be closed and left, but should they be found clustering 

 tightly in large numbers about the cage, at once close the hive 

 and wait another twelve hours ; and in case a queen is attacked 

 after being released (which is known by the bees forming intO' 

 a knot about her and stinging each other in their endeavour to 

 so do to the stranger, called "balling"), then confine her 

 again, first, dispersing the angry cluster by heavy smoking. 



When inserting queens by caging, it is necessary to keep- 

 all- queen cells destroyed, or the new-comer will seldom be 

 received. She is to them unserviceable, and yet present in 

 the hive all the time the bees know they have the means of 

 raising their own, and hence a dislike once began is only fed 

 into ai} angry flame simply by the continued irritation caused 

 by the constant attempt to get at the stranger, and not seldom 

 by the bee-keeper's own interference. 



Under this process of frequent disturbance, the queen 



