AN EASY WAY TO RAISE A FEW OR MANY GOOD QUEENS* 



H. L. Case, Canandaigua, IST. Y. 



Take an empty brood comb that has had brood in it once or 

 twice and place it in the center of the colony containing the queen 

 from which you desire to breed. If this is at the time of year 

 when the queens are laying to their full capacity take the card out 

 and examine it on the fifth day after placing it. Should the 

 larvae and eggs extend two-thirds across the card it is ready for 

 iise; if they do not, replace it in the colony and it will be ready 

 the next day. When taking out the card for preparation be sure 

 that you keep it warm and do not allow it to become chilled. If 

 the day is warm it will not chill, but do not leave it exposed to the 

 hot rays of the sun. Should it be a cool or cold day, use artificial 

 heat and take it into a warm room for preparation. 



Lay the card down on a table, and beginning at the lower edge 

 of the brood patch, mark the comb with a sharp knife length- 

 wise of the frame in rows containing a row of one cell and a row 

 of two cells alternately, cutting to the midrib. With a sharp chisel 

 shave off the cells from the two-cell rows down to the midrib ; 

 then you have the one-cell rows left. 



Be sure to destroy all the eggs and larvae where you have shaved 

 off the comb, a match is good for this purpose. Then commence 

 at the end of the row of cells left standing and leave the first egg 

 or larva and destroy the next two, leave the next and destroy the 

 next two and so all over the card. 



E"ext, take an empty super and drive three eight d nails on 

 the inside of the super one in each end and one on each side about 

 two and a half inches from the bottom. These are to lay your pre- 

 pared rack on with the prepared cells pointing down. The cells 

 are to be raised only on the prepared side of this card, the eggs 

 and larvae on the other side of the card are not to be disturbed. 

 Lay the card on the nails driven inside of the super and cover up 

 the top of the rack as it lays in the super with a good warm 

 blanket, letting the blanket come right down tight to the comb . 



* Delivered at the New York State Beekeepers' Association, Syracuse, N. Y., 

 January, 1912. 



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