QUEEN INTRODUCTION. 39 



they run about the cage, it will be unsafe to release the 

 queen, and the comb had better be returned for another 

 twenty-four hours, at the end of which time, if the bees still 

 appear hostile, it may safely be inferred that the stock has a 

 queen, in which case it will be useless to attempt to intro- 

 duce another. As a rule, at the end of the first twenty-four 

 hours, the bees are well disposed towards the new queen, 

 and the cage may be lifted to allow her to walk out. If the 

 bees feed her, and appear to caress her as she walks about 

 the comb, it may be returned to the hive, and the latter 

 closed, and an examination made a day or two later will 

 generally show that she has begun to lay. This plan of 

 introduction has hitherto been the favourite one with veteran 

 bee-keepers ; but quite lately a new method has been dis- 

 covered by Mr. S. Simmins, which bids fair to revolutionize 

 the operation. To ensure success with this plan, Mr. 

 Simmins says — (i) the queen must be kept alone for 

 not less than thirty minutes, previous to introduction; 

 (2) she must have no food meanwhile ; and (3) she 

 must be introduced by lamplight (or in the evening). 

 The practical details of this plan are the following : — 

 The box is opened in the evening ; the queen is caught 

 and put by herself under a tumbler or the pipe-cover cage. 

 At the end of thirty minutes a corner of the quilt is lifted, 

 and the bees are driven back with a few strong puffs of 

 smoke. The queen is now taken by the wings, put under 

 the corner of the quilt, which is then turned down, the hive 

 is closed, and the operation is over. This plan of introduc- 

 tion seems to be absolutely safe and certain in its operation, 

 while with any of the others, even in the hands of practised 

 bee-keepers, a certain, although small, percentage of queens 

 is lost. 



CHAPTER XI, 



One of the chief things the bee-keeper has to guard against 

 in spring and autumn is robbing of one stock b^ the bees of 

 another. This is generally brought on by spilling syrup or 

 honey when feeding. The bees set to work to carry the 

 food into their hives, and when it is gone their baffled rage 



