FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 265 



ITALIANIZING WITH NATURAL SWARMING. 



Yet Still there are some who don't want to take even 

 that much trouble. A man says : "All I care to do with 

 the bees is to hive the swarms that come out, and to put 

 on the surplus boxes and take them off when filled. I 

 never take a frame out of a hive any more than if they 

 were all box-hives. But I have Italians in one hive, and 

 if I could I'd like to have more of that stock." 



For such a one I would advise after this manner: 

 Suppose we call your Italian colony A, the strongest of 

 the other colonies B, the next strongest C, the next D, 

 and so on. When A swarms, hive the swarm and set it 

 on the old stand, put A in place of B, and put B on a new 

 stand. All the field-bees of B will return to A, making A 

 quite strong again. In 8 or 10 days a young queen will 

 be ready in A to go out with a swarm. Hive the swarm, 

 put it in place of A, put A in place of C, and put C in a 

 new place. The field-bees of C will again strengthen A. 

 and in a day or two another swarm will issue. Put the 

 swarm in place of A, put A in place of D, and put D in 

 a new place. Continue this as long as A continues to 

 swarm, and each one of your swarms will have for its 

 queen a daughter of your Italian queen. If you have only 

 five or six colonies, the whole lot may be thus Italianized. 



QUEENS FOR OUT-APIARIES. 



On an}- day when we are going to an out-apiary and 

 expect to use young queens, we take them from any nu- 

 cleus that will furnish them, never putting any escort 

 bees in the cage with the queen, and generally one or 

 more extra queens are taken along, for we are never sure 

 they may not be needed. 



Care is taken that the record-book shall always show 

 the condition of each nucleus ; so we always liave some 

 idea as to which nucleus will furnish a la\i;\g queen, 

 which one needs a cell, and so on. 



