AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 



109 



this part of the world at the Government Apiary, and 

 with excellent results as Fig. 66 indicates. 



A new bright (wired) comb of the previous season's 

 construction was put into the hive of one of our breeding 

 queens; when fairly full of eggs and newly hatched 

 larvae it was removed and laid flat on a bench. A thin- 

 bladed knife was run along each side of every fourth 

 row of cells, cutting down to the mid-rib only. The three 

 intermediate rows of cells were scooped , out with the 

 blade of a broad bradawl, as shown in Fig. 65, an easy 

 matter, leaving every fourth row intact. Two out of 



Fig. (15. — COMB PREPARED FOR QUEEN CELLS. 



every three . eggs or larvEe in the standing rows were 

 killed, as in the Alley plan, and also all eggs and larvae 

 between the rows. This is important. The cells on the 

 opposite side of the comb were not touched. 



A strong two-story colony was in the meantime pre- 

 pared for cell building in the manner already described, 

 an empty half-story was placed immediately over the 

 brood chamber, an empty frame being laid flat on the 

 brood frames, and the prepared comb (prepared side 

 downwards) laid flat on the empty frame. The latter 

 was covered with a light mat, and the upper story 

 replaced. 



