278 A Modern Bee-Farm 



keeper opens the hive carefully and allows the queen to 

 run among her new subjects. If then attacked, she must 

 be again confined, and tried after the lapse of another 

 twelve hours. 



Direct Introduction consists in so inserting the queen 

 without confinement that the bees are either unaware of 

 the new arrival, or are taken advantage of in such a 

 manner that they do not attempt to molest her. 



Of course it is understood that no other queen is to be 

 in the ,hive at the time another is to be given, or the new 

 one will certainly be destroyed: The novice may 

 experience some difficulty in 



Finding' the queen 



to be superseded, and he will certainly do better to leave 

 his queens alone until he gains more experience, unless 

 he is absolutely certain that any are actually failing. If 

 he tries any new race, as yet he is hardly capable of form- 

 ing a correct opinion of them, and the probability is that 

 the natives will answer his purpose best for the first year 

 or two at least. 



In frame hives the fertile queen can generally be found 

 without much trouble, as she is parading the brood combs, 

 the hive being opened with as little disturbance as 

 possible, and the frames gently lifted and examined one 

 by one. If not to be seen there, look well around the 

 edges of the combs, or she may be found on the floor, 

 or at one corner among the bees ; it may even be 

 necessary to remove the combs to a temporary hive while 

 looking for her around the sides, taking care not to get 

 the brood chilled. An unfertile or virgin queen is often 

 most difficult to find, and at times even an expert bee- 

 keeper would be tempted to say that no queen was there, 

 were it not that the actions of the bees tend to show other- 



