76 
A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
tains too many bees. Among other things, this prevents 
her from swarming. When her hive is changed to a new 
place, the field force readily unites with the colony over 
which it has previously stood. 
About the time the honey-flow fairly commences, I make 
preparations for queen-rearing. The first tiling wanted is 
some worker comb, preferably new, evenly filled with eggs. 
I take one of the middle combs of the hive containing ttie 
imported queen, and fit centrally into it two pieces of worker 
comb taken from one-pound sections. These are about four 
inches square and I select those which have been drawn out 
about the proper depth for brood-rearing, or trim them to 
that depth. The honey has all been removed, probably the 
previous year. A piece is cut out of the brood-comb for 
each section and the section merely crowded in. I do not 
mean, of course, any of the wood of the section, just the 
comb. Between the two holes cut out for the sections to be 
crowded in, about an inch space is left. If a wired frame is 
used, the wires must be cut. If I remember rightly, Mr. A. 
I. Boot objected to my mutilating combs in this way, but as 
the holes are immediately filled up, no mutilation appears. 
Suppose these section combs thus prepared to be put in the 
middle of the brood-nest on June 1, I look, on June 2, to see 
if eggs are to be found. Most likely; if not, almost surely 
June 3. About 3 days from the time eggs are first laid, I cut 
out these sections and replace them with fresh ones. Then 
the sections are cut up and attached to brood-combs in the 
manner directed by Mr. Alley in his book on queen-rearing, 
only instead of leaving an egg in each alternate cell, I leave 
one in every third cell. Scraping off the top-bar of the frame 
which contains these eggs, I write on it “ 16, ” as June 16 is 
the earliest day possible on which a queen can hatch. I know 
it is considered that it should take 16 days for a queen to 
hatch, but in very strong colonies I have known them to 
hatch in 15. This frame is then given to a strong colony, 
usually one that has swarmed. Of course the queen must 
be taken away. It is put between two other frames, neither 
