KEAEIjS[G IlIPEOVED RACES. 



269 



them. On the same clay, make swarms, 

 (-175) or nuclei, (522) or destroy worth- 

 less queens (155) which you desire to re- 

 place next day. 



51'i'. The next day, with a sharp pen- 

 knife, carefully remove a piece of comb, an 

 inch or more square, that contains a queen- 

 cell (Fig. 100), and in one of the brood 

 combs of the hive to which this cell is to be 

 given, cut a place just large enough to re- 

 ceive and hold it in a natural position. 

 (Fig. 101.) 



Each queenless stock can thus .be supplied with a queen, 

 ready to hatch, from the best breeding mother. 



Fig. 100. 



QUEEN-CELL., 

 REMOVED. 



Fig. 101. 



(From Graventiorst. ) 



CUTTING OUT AXD INSERT- 

 ING QUEEN-CELLS. 



A, Unsealed cell. B, in- 

 serted cell. C, Unfin- 

 ished cell. D, Deceptive 

 cell just begun. 



Unless veil/ great care is used m transferring a royal cell, 

 its inmate will be destroyed, as her body, until she is nearly 

 mature, is so exceedingly soft, that a slight compression of 

 her cell— especially near the base, where there is no cocoon— 

 generally proves fatal. For this reason, it is best to defer 

 removing them, until they are within three or four days of 

 hatching. A queen-cell, nearly mature, may be known by 

 its having the wax removed from the lid, by the bees, so as 

 to give it a brown appearance. 



518. If the weather is warm, and the hive, to which a 



