FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



251 



bees in the cage with the queen, and generally one or 

 more extra queens are taken along, for we are never sure 

 they may not be needed. 



Fig. 89. — Comb for Queen-Celh^ Tflmmed. 



Care is taken that the record-book shall always show 

 the condition of each nucleus ; so we always have some 

 idea as to which nucleus will furnish a laying queen, 

 which one needs a cell, and so on. 



I may remark in passing that at one time I tried 

 having virgin queens caged to give in place of the cells. 

 One would reason that matters ought to be hurried up 

 a little by having virgins instead of cells, but actual prac- 

 tice did not seem to prove it so, and it seemed on the 

 whole better to give the cells. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



Latterly I usually introduce a queen in a provisioned 

 cage, nailing the cage directly over the brood, as in Fig. 



