BEE MANUAL. 213 
placing the hive containing the brood and caged queen in its 
place, and shaking the bees from a couple of frames down near 
the entrance, to secure some young bees with the old ones that 
will return from the removed hive ; the queen can be released 
in twenty-four hours. 
We have now, by removing the queen, forced the colony to 
turn its attention to raising others, and by depriving it of its 
own eggs and larve, have compelled it to raise queens from 
those supplied to it. We have also, by taking away all its 
uncapped brood, lessened its labours, and thereby obliged it in 
a manner to give more heed to the matter in hand. 
It is often stated that better queens, as a rule, are developed 
under the swarming impulse than can be raised by the forcing 
process. ‘The reason given is that the larve from which queens 
are to be reared, when the bees are preparing to swarm, receive 
the attention of the nurse bees, with this object in view, from 
the time of hatching, and are abundantly supplied with the 
‘“royal jelly” —so much so, indeed, as to apparently have more 
than they can consume, some usually being found in the bottoms 
of the cells after the queens have emerged. This surplus jelly 
being found in acell is considered a good sign that a strong, 
healthy queen has developed from it. I have no doubt that 
this is all correct ; but if these conditions can be brought about 
by the forcing process, there appears to be no good reason for 
supposing that the queens raised in that way will not be just as 
good ; and by the method I am describing this can be effected, 
as I have proved time after time. The main considerations are 
to develop the queens in strong colonies, and to let the nurse 
bees have as little to do as possible, that their whole attention 
may be devoted to rearing the queens from the selected eggs or 
larvee we have supplied them with. The larva of a worker bee 
several days old can be transformed into a queen, but all breed- 
ers agree that such queens are of little use. 
In less than twenty-four hours after the eggs have been 
given to the colony, several queen cells will be started 
over them. Some colonies will build more than others, but I 
think we may reckon the average at about fifteen with Italian 
bees, though I have had as many as thirty-five in a frame. 
There will be more built when honey is plentiful ; and if little 
or none is being gathered, the bees should be fed while cell- 
building is going on. Twelve cells are considered enough for 
