BEE MANUAL. 211 
HOW TO SECURE CHOICE QUEEN CELLS. 
During the past seven years I have paid great attention to 
the rearing of queens, both for home use and for sale. I have 
tried several methods for raising queen cells, but none have 
given me so much satisfaction as the one I first saw described 
in Gleanings in Bee Culture for August, 1880, by Jos. M. 
Brooks, and which I have since practised. It is very similar 
to Mr. Alley’s method, explained in his ‘“‘ Handy Book,” a copy 
of which should be in every bee-keeper’s library. 
To secure good queen cells early in the season, we should 
select, as soon as breeding has commenced in early spring, two 
or more, as may be required, of our best colonies, and work 
them on in advance of the rest by slow feeding, or, if need be, 
by giving them frames of emerging brood from other colonies, 
taking care to keep them covered up well. As soon as the one 
chosen for raising drones is sufficiently strong, insert a clean 
empty drone-comb—to be obtained in the manner explained 
in Chapter VIII.—in the centre of the brood-chamber. Note 
the time when the drone-brood is capped, and in eight or nine 
days after, place a frame of clean new worker-comb in the 
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centre of the brood-chamber of the hive containing your 
choicest queen. I would here point out that the cleaner the 
comb is the better ; I find combs built the previous season, 
that have only contained honey, give the best results. The 
colony now being pretty strong, with plenty of brood in the 
combs, the new one inserted will soon be in charge of the 
queen, and in three or four days will be full of eggs. As 
soon as the eggs commence to hatch, which will be in three 
days after they were laid, remove the comb to a warm room, 
