138 A Modem Bee-Farm 



from the combs on to a board in front of the liive, and as they 

 draw back through the entrance let the new queen run in with 

 them. There is considerable risk with this plan, even when all 

 are sprayed with thin syrup, scented or not, but I mention it more 

 as a caution to the novice, that he may not be led astray, more 

 particularly as he would be liable to get the brood chilled before 

 the bees regained their former position. 



VARIOUS, 



A plan which I have found very satisfactory, and which was 

 first suggested to my mind by the fact that I had long made a 

 practice of sending queens off with bees they had never seen until 

 the moment of fastening down in the various receptacles they 

 were to travel in, is as follows : — Make up a 3-frame nucleus in a 

 small hive 14 J inches by 11 inches inside (allowing 2^ inch space 

 under the " standard " frame) ; then confine the bees, with ample 

 ventilation, and as soon as they are in an uproar, having found 

 themselves to be queenless, let the new arrival run under one 

 corner of the quilt, first driving the bees back with a little smoke. 

 Keep them thus confined in a darkened room, and liberate on 

 the evening of third day, standing the nucleus where it is to 

 remain ; and as soon as strong enough give a frame of hatching 

 brood at intervals of seven days. Before inserting queen, she 

 should, for greater security, be kept alone and without food for 30 

 minutes. 



Mr. Doolittle (of America), also appears to have discovered 

 that confined bees will readily accept a strange queen. His plan 

 is to shake the bees into a box, well ventilated, and as soon as 

 they are in distress at the loss of their queen, he allows the new 

 one to run among them through a small opening, otherwise kept 

 closed. In a day or two the bees are placed upon brood and 

 store combs, where it is intended they shall remain. 



Few bees will return to the old hive in either case, but there 

 appears to be more labour than with my own plan, in that bees 

 are twice shaken from the combs ; first to place them in confine- 

 ment, and next to provide the brood and other combs to start 



