April 11, 18C7. 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



271 



1 oz. of nitric acid to a quart of water. This is set over an 

 open tire and stirred till tlie combs are completely melted, when 

 it ia removed from the fire and allowed to cool gradually. The 

 product is divided into three layers, the upper one pure wax, 

 the lowest chiefly impurities, and the middle containing suffi- 

 cient wax to be added to the next melting. A marketable wax 

 is thus obtained at a single operation, without straining or 

 pressing. — (American Bee Joitntal.) 



I'ROPAGATING LIGURIANS. 



The first step towards the multiplication of Lignriaus is, of 

 course, the obtaining a stock of bees with a pure queen ; and, 

 as the purity of the original queen is of such essential import- 

 tance that unless it is secm-e all future proceedings can only 

 end in disappointment, no precaution should be neglected in 

 endeavouring to attain this end. 1 should, therefore, advise 

 no one to purchase a Liguriau stock of which the vendor will 

 not guarantee the purity of the queen, whilst it is of at least 

 equal importance to buy only from those whose known charac- 

 ter and standing among apiarians are such as to give weight 

 to their guarantee. 



This indispensable preliminary being secured, most persons 

 will probably expect to be at once enabled to propagate the 

 pure Italian race — at least, I know that I did so, and it took 

 some time, and a considerable amount of rather unpalatable 

 experience to undeceive me. It is true, that if the Ligurian 

 stock be so exceptionally strong in early spring as to breed 

 drones well in advance of every black stock within a radius of 

 from three to four miles, and young queens cau be reared before 

 any black drones are produced, the queens will stand a good 

 chance of obtaining pure impregnation. Although, singularly 

 enough, I was so fortunate as to attain this result with the 

 first queen I ever reared, subsequent experience has satisfied 

 me that success in the first attempt with only one Italian 

 colony is so rare, that it is far better to devote the first season 

 to furnishing every stock in the apiary with a Ligurian queen, 

 multiplying the queens at the same time as far as may be deemed 

 desirable, but paying little or no heed to the character of their 

 impregnation. For reasons which need not be entered upon 

 here, but which have been already specified by me in discuss- 

 ing the subject of parthenogenesis in the honey bee, all these 

 queens, although they may, and most of them probably will, 

 breed a mixed worker progeny, will in the next and succee<Hng 

 years breed only pure Italian drones, by the multitude of which 

 the chances of a true impregnation will in the ensuing season 

 be so much increased that the purity of the majority of young 

 queens of the second year is not improbable ; whilst if care be 

 taken to keep all the stocks well up to the mark, success in the 

 case of early-bred queens becomes nearly certain. During 

 this second season, therefore, all doubtful queens of the first 

 year should be weeded out and replaced by those of the cur- 

 rent year. 



Queens may also be bred in the autumn, and when all black 

 drones have disappeared can scarcely fail of true impregnation, 

 if a sufficient number of Italian drones can be preserved and 

 the weather be warm enough.* For this purpose the usual 

 drone massacre may be deferred almost indefinitely in one or 

 more stocks by removing the queens. It is in this case neees- 

 sai-y also to destroy or remove any young princesses that may 

 be raised, since not only will all drones be speedily destroyed 

 in the event of a princess becoming fecundated, but the 

 workers sometimes become so impatient of their presence 

 under such circumstances, that a partial, or possibly an entire, 

 massacre may take place even before the juvenile monarch has 

 been able to avail herself of their services. 



I should advise every one who intends propagating Ligu- 

 lians to provide himself with several nucleus-boxes, fitted for 

 the accommodation of " nuclei," as small artificial swarms 

 have been not inaptly designated. Those which I use are 

 made of three-quarter-inch wood, 14J inches long, by 6i inches 

 wide and inches deep, which will accommodate four frames, 

 although in practice I seldom put more than three combs in 

 each. 



In order to stock a nucleus-box and raise a queen therein, I 

 commence durin-:^ the middle of a fine day by looking over the 

 combs of a pure Italian stock until I find the quetu m one of 

 them. Thi.-i cumb, with the queen, is then put carefully on one 

 side, so that her majesty may not be jeopardised or interfered 

 with iu any way, whilst another comb is selected containing 



• Dzierzon states that a temperature of above 70^ is required. 



worker brood in all stages, from the egg to the sealed nympk, 

 which, with the adhering bees, is put in the nucleus-box, into 

 which the bees from two other combs are rapidly swept with a 

 strong feather. Two spare combs being placed one on either 

 side of the brood-comb, the bees must be confined by the top 

 of the box being covered by perforated zinc instead of the 

 crown-board, whilst the entrance is closed by the same mate- 

 rial, and the nucleus should then be conveyed to a dark cellar, 

 there to remain until evening. After dusk it must be placed 

 in the position it is intended to occupy in the apiary, the bees 

 set at liberty,* the crown-board put in its place, and aU made 

 snug for the night. A great rush usually ensues, but few will 

 take wing in the dark ; and although most of the involuntary 

 truants may return to their home in the morning, so many 

 young bees that have never taken flight, and consequently 

 know not their way back, must perforce remain that the brood 

 will probably be well covered and royal cells will appear in due 

 course. All this must not, however, be left to chance ; but an 

 examination of the nucleus should be made in the forenoon of 

 the third day, when, if the population be too scanty, it must 

 be recruited by brushing into it the bees from one or more 

 combs of the parent stock, the same preliminary precautions 

 being of course taken to insure the safety of the queen. 



If the Italian stock be strong, and the vacancy can be at 

 once supplied by a comb of black worker brood, the abstraction 

 of bees will scarcely be missed, and may be repeated, and a 

 nucleus stocked, if required, nearly every other day in the 

 height of the season ; but every comb of black brood should 

 be marked with the day of the month on which it was inserted, 

 and not employed for breeding Itahau queens, until — say 

 twelve days afterwards. If combs of black worker brood are 

 unattainable, the place of those abstracted should be occupied 

 by empty worker combs, which will rapidly be filled with eggs ; 

 but if no worker comb be attainable, the remaining combs 

 must be brought together and the vacancy left on one side. 



Cases may, of course, arise in which the pure Italian stock 

 is so exceptionally weak as not to bear the loss of either brood- 

 combs or bees ; but even in such instances proceedings need 

 not be delayed Ion;/ after breeding has fairly commenced, but 

 may be so conducted as to add to instead of diminishing the 

 strength of the colony. With this view, every bee should be 

 swept off the selected comb, and its pUce being at once sup- 

 plied by a comb of black brood in a more advanced stage, a 

 positive advantage will be at once secured, whilst the requisite 

 population for the nucleus-box may be obtained by brushing 

 into it the bees from three combs Ufted out of a black stock 

 for the purpose, care being taken that the queen is not among 

 them. 



These little artificial swarms will frequently raise many 

 royal cells. On the ninth or tenth day, all but two of these 

 may be extracted and given to more recently-formed nuclei, 

 which will thereby gain a considerable advantage in point of 

 time. They should be cut out with a triangular bit of comb 

 attached (apex downwards), and inserted in a similarly-shaped 

 hole cut in the brood-comb, which, in this ease, may be taken 

 from either a common or the Ligurian colony, the latter being, 

 of course, preferable as a dernier re.isort in the event of the 

 failure of the inserted royal cells. In all these operations the 

 greatest care should be taken to avoid bruising or chilling the 

 royal embryos, and for this reason they should be conducted 

 as rapidly as possible in the middle of a warm day. Although 

 it might at first sight appear that, by inserting sealed royal cells 

 in the brood-combs at the time of stocking nuclei, trouble 

 would be saved and subsequent operations rendered unneces- 

 sary, experience proves that it is better to delay the insertion 

 until a day or two afterwards, when such cells will generally 

 be fixed and accepted by the bees ; whereas, if given to them 

 at the time of the first formation of the swarm, they are very 

 apt to be at once torn open and destroyed. 



Dzierzon, the great German apiarian, says, " It is an ad- 

 vantage, although not absolutely essential, to add a brood-comb 

 to every artificial swarm or stock in which a young queen has 

 been hatched, since, on account of the increased warmth and 

 activity which will thus be produced in the hive, the juvenile 

 princess will sooner mature for impregnation, wiU take her 

 wedding-flights earlier, and from the bees being induced to play 

 out in greater numbers she will be enabled to find her hive on 

 her return with greater certainty. Whether young Italian 

 queens are fertilised by Italian drones, especially in the height 



• This is important, as great loss of lite often takes place if the liber- 

 ation be delayed until the nest morning. 



