AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 95 



a few colonies are kept as a hobby, the rearing of a 

 few queens will be found a most interesting study. 



RAISING QUEEN CELLS. 



The raising of queen cells is the starting point in 

 queen rearing, and whether the bee-keeper assists the 

 bees in this work by supplying artificial " cell cups," 

 and transferring selected larvae to them or not, he is 

 dependent upon the bees to bring the young queens to 

 maturity. To ensure this he takes advantage of the 

 natural instinct of the bee, which at once sets about 

 raising another queen when deprived of the reigning 

 one, and in this way he forces the colony by making 

 it queenless to start queen cells. 



By supplying it with selected eggs or larvae, and 

 taking away all others, the bees are compelled to raise 

 queens from these, so that the bee-keeper has almost 

 complete control over their work, and by adopting 

 certain methods he can encourage the bees to build 

 more cells than would be built under natural conditions. 



To describe in full the methods adopted by many 

 commercial queen breeders for cell raising, and graft- 

 ing of larvae into artificial cell cups, would require too 

 much space, and special books giving full details are 

 obtainable from those who cater for bee-keepers. 

 " Doolittle on Queen Raising," "The Swarthmore 

 Library," and the " A B C and X Y Z of Bee-Culture," 

 being the best. I shall therefore only briefly touch on 

 these methods ; and then explain the one most suitable 

 for the average bee-keeper, by which he can be assured 

 of raising the best queens obtainable under any plan. 



THE DOOLITTLE PLAN. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle, if not the first to make artificial 

 cell cups, was the first to perfect and make commercial 

 use of them. He uses a small, round, smooth stick, 

 pointed to the size and shape of the base of a queen 

 cell. This he dips into melted wax three or four times, 

 the first time about half an inch up the stick, and less 



