and its Economic Management. 281 



•the top bar, when in the course of a few hours the bees 

 cut a passage under the edge of the cage, and thus Hberate 

 the queen without further disturbance. For greater 

 security let me advise something more definite : Put the 

 queen in towards evening, so that she may be liberated of a 

 certainty during the quiet hours of the night. 

 The introduction of that invaluable 



Benton flailing: Cage 



has made it possible to insert queen's safely without 

 removing them. Most cages sent out by breeders now 

 have a plug at one end, nearest the supply of food ; and 

 the cage being placed above the frames after removing 

 this plug the bees gradually remove the food and so 

 quietly liberate the new queen. 



But many losses occur by this plan where bee-keepers 

 will not acknowledge the simple natural laws which 

 govern the action of these interesting insects. If the 

 queen is not likely to be liberated the first night after the 

 old queen has been removed, she should not be allowed 

 to escape until the second day has passed ; this being the 

 most fatal period of any, as the bees having a lot of queen 

 ■cells just prepared are bent upon destroying any new 

 arrival inserted by the caging processes. From the third 

 day and after, the insertion of alien queens is generally 

 attended with no risks. 



Though there are many methods of caging, I will call 

 attention to only one more, which is deserving of some 

 notice. Mr. G. M. Doolittle, an American bee-keeper, 

 uses a flat cage, having an area of 4 or 5 inches square ; 

 this, with the queen in, is pressed down to the mid-rib of 

 the comb just over hatching brood. Of course all the 

 young bees hatching out pay homage to the only queen 

 they know ; and the cells thus vacated are occupied by 



