40 SUCCESSFUL BEE-KEEPING. 
before described ; being careful always to cut off the com- 
munication between the new queen cluster and the old swarm, or 
the queen will not be allowed to mature, and the bees will 
return to the parent stock. 
In transferring queen cells, it is of no consequence how 
we place them in the combs, so that we do not injure them. 
I have placed them in every imaginable position with 
equally favorable results. Great care must be taken not 
to press them with the fingers, nor let them lic in the sun, 
or exposed to the chill of morning or evening, for fear of 
destroying the royal occupants. The tip of the cell should 
not touch the comb, as, if it does, the bees may stick it 
fast at that point, and thus prevent the hatching of the 
queen. The inexperienced bee-keeper had better trsns- 
fer only one of the queen cells at a time, returning the 
frame from which it is taken to its place in the hive till 
the royal cell is properly adjusted in its new location, in 
order to prevent injury to the young larva. Hach 1ew 
colony should receive only one queen cell, because 1% is 
found that a queen emerging in a small colony, with no 
rivals in prospect, will make her excursion to meet the 
drones several days sooner than one emerging in a popu- 
lous colony, or having rival queens in prospect to be dis- 
posed of. 
The following letter from the author, was published in 
the Bee Journal for September, 1861, p. 212; and the ed- 
itor, in his remarks on the same, clearly endorses the 
views here set forth : 
A great diversity of opinion exists as to the time when the rst 
excursion of a young queen in quest of drones for impregnation may 
be looked for. The June number of the Journal (page 130.) states 
the time at from the fifth to the twelfth day after issuing from the 
cell. I think this isa mistake ; at least it has not been true with me. 
