OR, MANUAL OF THB APIARY. 289 



all except for this practice. Mr. Gecrge Grimm kept about 

 eighty colonies of bees, and said he worked only ten days in 

 the year. But he clipped the queens' wings, and his wife did 

 the hiving. 



Some apiarists clip one primary wing the first year, the 

 secondary the second year, the other primary the third, and, if 

 age of the queen permits, the remaining wing the fourth year. 

 Yet, such data, with other matters of interest and importance, 

 better be kept on a slate or card, and firmly attached to the 

 hive, or else kept in a record opposite the number of the hive. 

 The time required to find the queen is sufficient argument 

 against the " queen-wing record." This is not an argument 

 against the once clipping of the queen's wings, for, in the 

 nucleus hives, queens are readily found, and even in full colo- 

 nies this is not very difficult, especially if we keep Italians or 

 any other races of yellow bees. It will be best, even though 

 we have to look up black queens in full colonies. The loss of 

 one good colony, or the vexatious trouble of separating two or 

 three swarms which had clustered together, and finding each 

 queen, or the hiving of a colony perched high up on some 

 towering tree, would soon vanquish this argument of time. 



To clip the queen's wing, which we must never do until 

 she commences to lay eggs, take hold of her wings with the 

 right thumb and index finger — never grasp her body, especially 

 her abdomen, as this will be very apt to injure her — raise her 

 off the comb, then turn from the bees, place her gently on the 

 left hand, and press on her feet with the left thumb sufficiently 

 to hold her. Now with the right hand, by use of a small, 

 delicate pair of scissors, cut off about one-half of one of the 

 front or primary wings. This method prevents any movement 

 of legs or wings, and is easy and quick. I think Mr. Root 

 advises grasping the queen by the thorax. I prefer the method 

 given here. 



Some bee-keepers — inexperienced they must be — complain 

 that queens thus handled often receive a foreign scent, and 

 are destroyed by the worker-bees. I have clipped hundreds 

 and never lost one. 



LAYING WORKERS. 



We have already described laying workers. As these can 



