18 THE BEARING OF QUEEN BEES. 
is opened, the bees shaken out in front of their old hive, and the cells 
on bars hung- in any colon}?- which will complete cells, By this method 
a much larger proportion of cells will be accepted, and the time 
required is very small. A schedule, which is in use in the Department 
apiarv during the queen-rearing season, for the use of the swarm box, 
may not be out of place here to illustrate the small amount of time 
required for this manipulation, and to be used as a working plan: 
9 a. m. Shake bees into swarm box. ( About 5 minutes. ) 
3 p.m. Insert royal jelly and transfer larvpe to cell cups. (About 10-15 
minutes. ) 
9 a. m. (next day). Shake out bees and place cells in colony to be completed. 
(About 5 minutes. ) 
While the construction of a special box and this manipulation may 
seem like an undue amount of labor, the schedule shows that such is 
not the case. In actual use in the apiary of the Department of Agri- 
culture, it has been found not only to save time, but to be more satis- 
factory in every other way, particularly in the larger number and 
more uniform feeding of the cells accepted. 
The swarm box has been criticised in various quarters as being 
opposed to the natural habits ocf the bees, and it is supposed that this 
is a valid reason for condemning it. It is a popular fallacy among 
some bee keepers that there must be absolutely no departure from the 
natural instincts of the bees, and a new or strange idea is frequenth T 
condemned on these false grounds. The same men will use movable 
frame hives and queen mailing cages, and will remove honey from the 
hives either by extracting or in the far more unnatural section. We 
must, as pointed out previously/' know the habits of the bees; but 
equally important in practical work is a knowledge of the amount of 
nexibilit} T in the instinct. In fact, modern apiculture has come to be 
a study of the modification of conditions under which bees can thrive 
to bring about the best results for the bee keeper. 
ALLEY SYSTEM OF CELL STARTING. 
There is another method of starting queen cells which gives very 
good results. Mr. Henry Alley recommends that a strip of comb, 
with young larvae from the breeding queen, be cut wide enough for 
one row of complete cells to remain intact. The outer portions of the 
cells on one side are cut away and every second larva is killed or 
removed. This strip is then fastened to the bottom of a comb with 
the open ends pointing downward, and the whole put in any colony 
used for cell building. The queen cells are built very regularly and 
a large proportion are accepted. In the apiary of the Bureau it has 
been found easier to use partly drawn out foundation in which are 
young larvae, as shown in figure 8, thus avoiding the cutting away of 
a See "Natural queen rearing," p. 9. 
