THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



6? 



<it^trimcnt!il. The importation of Italian lues 

 has been worth all it. has cost to thebec-keep- 

 »'rsof tliis continent, in this view of the matter 

 alone. The pioneers in this direction were at 

 (Considerable cost, and have not reaped so rich 

 a return, as those who are indebted to them 

 for bringing this valuable, breed of bees witli- 

 in general reach. Five dollars per queen, the 

 aTcrage price, is by no means a large sum, 

 when the possible benefits are taken into ac- 

 count. By judicious management, a single 

 queen may be made to Italianize a moderate- 

 ly sized apiary in the course of one season, 

 thereby doubling the ^■alue of every hive it 

 contains. 



While on the sulijcct. we may as well men- 

 tion, for the information of the novice in 

 bee-keeping, and the general reader, how 

 the process of the Italianizing is accomplish- 

 ed. As all the eggs in a hive are laid by a 

 single queen, it is only necessary to substi- 

 tute an Italian queen for the common one, to 

 accomplish the change of breed. It is usual 

 to remove the common queen a week before 

 her succes.sor is introduced, by which time, 

 queen cells will be far advanced. By cutting 

 these out, all possibility of the bees rearing 

 another black queen is destroyed. They will 

 then more readily accept a strange queen. 

 There are various ways of introducing queens, 

 liut the safest, especially for beginners, is to 

 cage the queen about thirty hours, and fix the 

 cage so that the bees can have free access to 

 it. They will soon get reconciled to lier, ac- 

 quainted with her, and will feed her. After 

 <vbout the length of time specified, it will be 

 ■quite safe to liberate her. When there are 

 several hives to Italianize, the new queen 

 must raise a supply of drones, and the black 

 ones must either be destroyed or confined to 

 their hives to prevent their mating with the 

 young queens. This is the great difiiculty in 

 tran.sforming stocks and keeping them pure. 

 As bees mate when on the wing, there is a con- 

 stant liability of the' queens meeting common 

 drones. A single hive is soon and easily 

 Italianized. Bees in the summer time are very 

 short-lived. Within three months after the 

 introduction of an Italian queen scarcely a 

 black bee will be seen in the hive. Italianiz- 

 ing several stocks with one (lueen, is a work 

 of more time and difficulty. 



Newspaper Decisions. 



1. Any person who lakes a paper regularly 

 from the post-otMce — whether directed to liis 

 name or another's, or whether he has sub 

 scribed or not — is responsible for the pay- 

 ment. 



2. If any person orders his paper discon- 

 tinued, he must pay all arrearages, or the 

 publisher may continue to send it, until pay- 

 ment is made, and collect the whole amount — 

 whether the pajur is taken from the office or 

 not. 



t5. The courts have decided tlnit refusing 

 to take newspapers and periodicals from the 

 l)ost-office, or removing and leaving them 

 uncalled for, is prima facie evidence of in- 

 tentional fraud. 



Clubbing Bee Journals. 



Several of our subscribers have requested 

 us to say what we will club AA'ith other Bee 

 publications for. AVe therefore quote the 

 following: 



The American Bkk Journai. and the "Na- 

 tional Bee Journal," by Mrs. Tupper, for 

 $:3.(X) a year in advance. 



The Amki{icax Bee Journal and either 

 " The Bee-keepers' Magazine," or the " Agri- 

 culturist," by H. A. King, for $3.5(». 



The A^reRiCAN Bee Jouiinal and "Novice's 

 Gleanings," for %'i.m. 



The American Bee Journai- and the " Na- 

 tional," the "Magazine," and "Gleanings," 

 for .$4.00 in advance. 



All the above one year, i|.^.00. 



Any of the above and the " Illustrated Jour- 

 nal," and our magnificent Large Fruit Chro- 

 mo, for $2.00, in addition to the retail 

 price of the Bee publication selected. 



To Those Interested in Bee Culture. 



At the sixth annual meeting of the Michi- 

 gan Bee-Keepers' Association, it was decided 

 to hold a special meeting at Kalamazoo, to 

 commence Wednesday, May (5, 1874. It is 

 especially desired that all members be pres- 

 ent, and, in Ix'half of the Association, we 

 urge every Bee-keeper in Michigan to attend. 

 A cordial invitation is also extended to all 

 l)ersons interested in the science of Bee-cul- 

 ture whether residing in this or other States. 

 Surely much good may be derived from a 

 comparison of experiences next spring, and 

 from the able papers that will then be pre- 

 sented. Timely notice will be given of all 

 further arrangements. Address communica- 

 tions or inquiries concerning the subject to 

 Fr.\nk Benton, Bec'y. 



Shelby, Oceana Co., Mich. 



