62 BEE CULTURE. 
and see how she is received. If she is attacked by the bees, 
molesting her wings and legs, return her to the cage for 
another 36 hours, after which she will, no doubt, be accepted. 
Queen cells, if any have been started, should be destroyed. 
Another plan, and one that is regularly practiced in our 
aplary with uniform success, is to make the colony queenless 
for 24 hours, and then with an Atomizer (Fig. 37) throw a 
fine spray of peppermint water over both the queen and bees, 
letting the queen loose upon one of the central combs, and 
close up the hive. The pepermint water makes the bees 
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Fie. 37.—Atomizer, for Spraying Bees. 
and queen of the same scent, and, almost invariably, she is 
received with favor. The spray is so FINE, that it is not the 
least detriment either to the bees, comb, brood or honey. 
With a valuable queen, where it is not desired to take the 
least risk, a new colony may be formed, by taking hatching 
brood from several hives. Being aL young bees, the queen 
will be unmolested This may be done with perfect safety. 
INSERTING A QUEEN CELL. 
A ripe queen cell will almost invariably be received with 
favor by a queenless colony. Of course all other queen cells 
must be destroyed. 
Fig. 38 shows a queen cell finished and sealed, containing 
an embryo queen. ‘The orifice @ is capped, and the cell-walls 
are thickened preparatory to being extended in the direction 
of the dotted lines 8 b. 
When the embryo queen is nearly mature, within 12 to 16 
hours of emerging, the bees begin to demolish the exterior 
compartment (Fig. 38, b b), reducing it to a level with the 
outer edge of the cap of the cell proper (Fig. 38, a). The con- 
