THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 373 



One favorable time in June one such strong colony of hybrids 

 built fifty-two cells. I removed the larvae from all but twenty of 

 the largest ones and on the thirteenth day the twenty hatched, and 

 all were laying in due time and if there was any difference in 

 them I could not discover it, 



I am with Mr. Howe in considering the dark Italians better 

 than the light colored stock. 



Well do I remember a beekeeper, coming to my place to pur- 

 chase some queens, who was particular to say he wanted the light- 

 est colored ones I could furnish. I asked him if he was looking 

 for just beauty. He answered, "No, but I want as near pure stock 

 as possible." He said he had all the dark leather colored ones he 

 wanted and was sure that all such were only hybrids. He wanted 

 some that would not sting so much. 



I then approached a hive containing a strong colony of pure 

 Italians, had no smoke or smoker, removed cover, jerked off the 

 quilt (I used quilts then) and blew my breath all over the bees in 

 top of the hive. He looked very much surprised, his first words 

 being, "Why, those are black bees." He could see the very dark 

 leather colored bands. He also immediately changed his mind on the 

 hybrids score, and said he wanted queens of just such stock as 

 that, and if any one would treat any of his bees like that they would 

 sting everything near. 



Many years ago we were told that if all the worker bees show- 

 ed three yellow bands that they were pure,, and it might be necess- 

 ary to place some of the bees upon a window to be able to see all 

 the bands. 



In my long experience with the Italian bees I have had sev- 

 eral colonies of bees, the pedigree of which I was sure enough to 

 know that they were not pure, where there could not be found 

 any young bees, the progeny of the queen of said colonies 

 but that showed at least three distinct yellow bands and many 

 with four such bands. The drones of these colonies would never 

 be uniform in color, but would show a great amount of yellow 

 on many of them. 



The following I consider the only pure test for purity. The 

 young bees are the ones to test, as with the old or field bees there 

 are apt to be some bees from other hives that got into other 

 hives than their own, by mistake. 



These young bees on their combs that have as yet never flown 

 from their hive, are sure to be the progeny of the queen in their 

 hive. They should not only plainly show three distinct bands, be 



