250 BEE MANIPULATION. [Ch. v. 



preferred, an eke (page i86) may be placed on the stand, 

 the bees precipitated into it, and the hive of combs 

 placed above, \Yhen the bees will ascend. If this is 

 done in the evening the queen will in most cases be 

 well received. As there is no opportunity of excising 

 queen cells, the process should be performed, say, in the 

 middle of October, when breeding has ceased. Stupefy- 

 ing the bees with fungus is a method devised by Hiiber 

 as applicable in any kind of hive, and it has been highly 

 approved of and declared to be infallible. 



A strange queen is generally -^vell received by young 

 bees, whether she be ItaKan or English — for we have 

 never found the slightest difference in reception, though 

 Mr. Wagner (Langstroth's " Honey Bee," page 325) was 

 of opinion that there is more opposition in the case of the 

 foreigner. The difficulty is to have a sufficient number 

 of such young bees. In the middle of a hot summer's 

 day a stock may be divided and the part with the old 

 queen left in its former position, while the other part, 

 with as many brood combs as it is prudent to take, may 

 be removed a few yards off. The old bees that have 

 been brought with the latter will in three or four hours 

 have most of them returned to their former abode, and 

 the new queen may then \\\\\-\ safety be given to the 

 remainder without caging, taking care to introduce her 

 to the young bees on the combs. This task must only 

 be attempted on a warm midsummer day and when the 

 night temperature need not be feared for the young 



