HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 



hive, we could in every sense control it and be 

 certain that she was purely mated to a drone 

 of the same race, but, the mating occurring 

 in the air, somewhat remote from her hive, we 

 can never be certain that she has mated 

 properly until after some of her eggs have 

 hatched, when the markings of the worker off- 

 spring will tell the tale. 



This uncertainty has been the bane of queen- 

 raisers, and to overcome it they have found 

 it economy to seek out all owners of bees in a 

 radius of three miles and to Italianize their colo- 

 nies free of charge, by the introduction of pure 

 queens, so as to be reasonably certain of the 

 fact that none but pure drones are present 

 in the immediate neighborhood. Again and 

 again have I had a choice virgin queen mated to 

 the common black drones that may be near by ; 

 and as her offspring will be hybrids with more 

 or less vicious dispositions, the only remedy 

 has been to pinch off her head and try again. 

 The presence of impure races, however, need 

 not prove a serious bugbear, for in a little 



42 



