DOOLITTLE METHOD 281 



over them, much as a gun cap is pressed down over the tube. 

 After placing the end of the stick in one of the cups, a slight 

 pressure and a little twist leaves the cocoon snugly ensconced 

 in the bottom of the cell-cup. ' ' 



In order to succeed, in breeding queens for sale, it requires 

 good judgment, daily attention to the needs of the queens, and 

 indefatigable perseverance. The queens when hatched should 

 be at once removed from the queen-nursery, so they may not 

 wear themselves out by repeated attempts at escaping. It may 

 be borne m mind, however, that young queens may be caged 

 quite a while without injury, since in the natural conditions- 

 the worker bees often imprison the young queens in their cells 

 until a favorable moment for swarming. 



531. In order to economize in the rearing of queens, queen 

 breeders have lately devised what is called "baby-nuclei" simir 

 lar to the diminutive hives of Alley, but still smaller, in which 

 only about two hundred young bees full of honey are intro- 

 duced. The virgin queen is introduced to one of these and is 

 sure to be welcome, especially if those bees have been taken 

 from a queenless colony. There she remains until mated, which 

 is usually within a very short time. The only advantage that 

 we can see in this method is its cheapness, and the perhaps 

 greater ease with which the queen can be introduced, but for 

 several reasons and especially for the greater comfort and 

 success of the queen, we would prefer to use the larger nuclei 

 (531), where the conditions are more nearly similar to those 

 of full colonies. 



Whatever we do in the breeding of queens, let us bear in 

 mind that we must keep our bees as nearly as possible in the 

 conditions in which queens are reared naturally. This is indis- 

 pensable for the raising of good stock. Apiarists of note have 

 objected to the Doolittle method, because of its forcing nature, 

 but as good stock is raised, by this method, as in the natural 

 way, and a greater number of good queens may be raised than 

 in any other way. This is very much similar to the methods 

 in which we increase our choice varieties of fruit trees. Graft- 



