FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



249 



a bunch of long and soft June grass — a very flimsy afifair 

 to use as a brush, but it is safe. 



ADVANTAGE OF CAGING CELLS. 



Of course the object of caging the cells is to prevent 

 the bees from tearing them down. At the time of taking 

 a queen out of a nucleus, if a cell were merely stapled 

 on, the bees would be pretty sure to destroy it, for not 

 yet realizing that their young laying queen has been 

 taken from them, they feel no need of anything like a 

 queen-cell. So the cage saves the time and trouble of 

 waiting and making a second visit another day. 



There is, however, another advantage in using the 

 cage, making it somewhat desirable to use it in all cases. 

 We often want to know what has been the fate of a cell. 



Ptg. 88.— Comb fur qneen-ljells. 



and can generally tell pretty well by its appearance. If 

 it has the appearance of most of those in Fig. 94, we 



