VOL. I. 



AUGUST, 1891. 



NO. 8. 



Robbing, Italianizing and How 

 to Introduce Queens. 



BY M. II. DE WITT. 



If August were a good honey month 

 the bee-keeper would soon become 

 rich. The hives are crowded with 

 bees, but they have nothing to do but 

 to idly fly about and consume their 

 winter stores. During this month and 

 the whole of autumn, after the honey 

 flow ceases, great care should betaken 

 to prevent robbing. If your colonies 

 are equally strong, there will be little 

 danger of losing any from this cause, 

 but the weaker ones are usually severe- 

 ly tried by their greedy and more 

 populous neighbors. The entrances 

 of all hives should be contracted and 

 especially those which contain the 

 weakest colonies. In working with 

 the bees the hives should not remain 

 uncovered longer than necessary. If 

 bees do not get a taste of honey they 

 will not be nearly so troublesome, but 

 if they once get a start they are some- 

 times almost uncontrollable. In this 

 case all work should be suspended 

 until they become quiet again. If rob- 

 bers are very numerous, a bee tent 

 will be found very useful while manip- 

 ulating the hives. Italians are not as 

 prone to rob as blacks. Now is a very 



good time to improve your stock of 

 bees, or to Italianize them, as it 

 will not interfere with honey slather- 

 ing. Instructions arc given below for 

 Italianizing. It is no doubt under- 

 stood by this time that all that is 

 necessary in order to change a colony 

 of black bees to pure Italians, is to 

 procure a pure, tested Italian queen 

 and introduce her to them, and in a 

 short time they will be changed to 

 that race. I remember the first Ital- 

 ian queen I ever purchased. It was 

 several years ago. I introduced her 

 to a colony of black bees, and in about 

 six weeks they were changed to pure 

 Italians ; the black bees having died 

 of old age in that time, and their 

 places were taken by the progeny of 

 the Italian queen. 



TO GET THE QUEENS FOE IT A LIANIZTNG. 



Queens are now sent safely by mail 

 to almost all parts of the world, and 

 those wanting queens can get them 

 cheaply and conveniently. Make 

 sure to buy of a reliable dealer — one 

 who understands what scientific queen 

 raising is. I will now give you in- 

 structions for introducing queens. 



Now the colony we wish to intro- 

 duce the queen to must be made 

 queenless a few hours until they be- 



