THK REARING OF QUEEN BKK-. 11 
this bulletin, but can say thai all the method- described have been 
tried successfully by him, either in the apiary of the Bureau of Ento- 
mology or before entering tin 1 service of that Bureau. The object in 
writing such a bulletin is that the successful method- may become 
better known. In most cases the plans given are somewhat modified 
and are not exactly as used by the originators of the various systems. 
These modifications may not appear to everybody to he improvements, 
but they are such as have seemed desirable either in the work of the 
apiary of the Bureau, or in the experience of other queen breeders. In 
giving directions for each part of the work of queen rearing, several 
methods are described: for it is realized that not all bee keepers can 
conveniently use the same system. Where a particular appliance is 
known commercially under a certain name, that name is used; for in 
such cases no dispute as to originality can arise and no injustice can be 
done. The author disclaims any responsibility in giving these names, 
but employs those in current use in apicultural literature. None of 
the appliances which are mentioned in this bulletin are patented and 
any bee keeper is at liberty to make them, either in the style described 
or with any modifications which he sees tit to make. 
The use of some terms which are rather current in bee-keeping lit- 
erature has been avoided, since several of the more common terms are 
not only useless but misleading. If the writers on apiculture were to 
be more careful in the nomenclature of the science, it would do much 
toward making their descriptions clear, and at the same time apicul- 
ture would be regarded with more respect by beginners and outsiders. 
An effort has also been made to exclude all discussion which does 
not have a direct bearing on queen rearing. It is assumed that the 
reader is familiar with the principles of bee keeping, and consequently 
it has not seemed necessary to discuss other phases of the work of the 
bee keeper. 
STARTING QUEEN CELLS. 
The queen cells used by various queen breeders vary greatly. 
Natural queen cells are sometimes used in queen rearing by cutting 
them from the comb and fastening them with wax to a bar the length 
of the top bar of the hive. These cells already stocked with royal 
jelly, the food of the queen larva 4 , are ready to use by simply remov- 
ing the larvae already in them and replacing them with larva 4 from 
the breeding queen. There are, however, several objections to such 
cells. They are far from uniform, and are not easily put into nursery 
cages when sealed; they are supplied with more royal jelly than is 
necessary; in most cases they are not easily obtained in sufficient 
number; and. finally, they can not be handled and removed, as can 
artificial cadis. Where such cells are used it is often customary to 
allow the queens to emerge on the combs of the hive, but this necessi- 
tates the hunting lor young queens, which La a waste oi time. 
