33 ^ 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
' The bees may be allowed to liberate the queen them- 
selves, by leaving the lower door sufficiently open to 
permit of her exit, but plugging the lower end of the 
cage, to the depth of ^in. at least, with a mixture of 
honey and finely-powdered loaf sugar. This should 
be carefully w’orked up, some time before it is needed, 
until it is as tough as dough, or it will too quickly 
soften in the warmth of the hive. This food is com- 
monly called Good Candy,’’ from Mr. Good, who 
first compounded it. 
' Mr. Alley uses a capital introducing-cage, seen at 
B, Fig. 86, and which he describes* as follows : Take 
a block of wood 3 in. long, 2in. wide, and Mn. thick, 
and bore through it a ijin. hole, Mn. from one end. 
Then cut the slot or mortise (jn) from the hole to 
the end of the cage or block, being careful not to 
cut out more than enough to allow the bees to pass 
through after the wire cloth is fastened on. Now cover 
both sides with wire cloth, as seen in the Figure ; cut 
the’ tin rest (r) i^in. long and fin. wide, and 
fasten it to one end of the cage by driving a wire 
nail through the centre of it and into the block, which 
it will hold between the frames.” 
The cage may be used in introducing both laying 
and virgin queens; these are .inserted through the 
mortise hole, which should then be plugged with 
good candy. The bees must have been queenless 
three days before they will thus kindly receive virgin 
queens. In my judgment, this cage is to be pre- 
ferred to the Raynor, for a reason which does not 
seem to have received attention. The queen has 
* “The Bee-keeper’s Handy Book,” pp. 26 and 182. 
