188 l-'IFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



from •which to choose my breeding stock'? Their careful rec- 

 ord must be kept. 



EMPTY FRAMES USED. 



Some time later a little change was made so as to make 

 the queen better satisfied with her new quarters. Instead of 

 putting foundation under the excluder, a brood-frame is put 

 there, at one side. It is preferably one with verj' little brood 

 in it, the object being merely to hold the queen in the hive, but 

 not to encourage lier to do mucli in tlie way of laying. As a 





Fig. 62 — Little Work-table. 



further discouragement to laying and comb-building no other 

 comb is put in the hive, nor ever the least starter of founda- 

 tion. Two or three other frames entirely empty are placed 

 beside the brood-comb. No dummy is needed. You might ex- 

 yiect that the bees very promptly fill with comb one or more 

 of these empty frames. They don't. At the end of a week 

 or ten days you may tind one frame half filled, with a very 

 little comb in the second ; perhaps only a little comb in the 

 one frame. 



As to the rest, of course the proceeding is just the same 

 as when foundation was used. 



