QUEENS AND QUEEN-CELLS 87 
that time, if all goes well, the young queens should 
have hatched, have become fertilized, and be lay- 
ing. They, can be used as may, seem desirable, 
and a fresh batch of cells given to the nuclei, 
It will be seen that although a queen raiser, 
can breed from his best queen, he cannot select, 
the drones with which the young virgins are to, 
be mated. Much has been written about the 
fertilization of queens with selected drones, but 
in a country so thickly populated as our own the 
thing is practically impossible. Fertilization takes 
place high in the air, and even if the bee-keeper, 
kept nothing. but selected drones in his own apiary, 
a large proportion of his queens would probably be 
mated with those which belong to his neighbours. 
When introducing new queens to a colony pre- 
cautions must be taken, or they, may, be killed. 
‘The usual method is to cage the queen on a 
comb, placing the cage in the centre of the brood- 
nest and over a few open cells of honey. Feed 
the bees gently, and liberate the queen in from 
twenty-four to forty-eight hours. It will be readily, 
seen on releasing her whether the bees are dis- 
posed to be friendly or otherwise towards her. 
If they, commence to pull the queen about, or 
enclose her in a tight mass of bees, a form of 
attack termed ‘‘palling,’’ she must be caged again 
until they are willing to accept her. 
‘Another method of introducing, is to enclose 
the queen in a cage, at one end of which is a 
quarter-inch hole filled with soft candy. The 
