1878 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



261 



and kept them so, until I could give them 

 ciiafi cushions, and put them in proper win- 

 te-iing trim. The queen Avas extremely pro- 

 lific, and I do not know that I ever had one 

 single queen that was the mother of a larger 

 f amilj- of bees. ^lany of these hybrid queens 

 are extraordinarily prolific. 



I believe the hybrids are more disp<')sed to 

 rob than the Italians, but not as much so as 

 the common bees. I decide thus, because, 

 v/lien at work among them, the bees that 

 buzz about the hives, trying to grab a load 

 t^rf plunder if a chance offers, are almost in- 

 variably full blood blacks. They may have 

 a dash of hybrid blood, but I judge not, be- 

 cause the hybrids and Italians will often be 

 ;tt work, when the blacks are lounging about 

 tiTing to rob, or doing nothing. I have 

 known a strong hybrid stock to be slowly 

 accumulating stores in the fall, when full 

 bloods, in the same ai)iary, were losing day 

 l)y day. 



S^ASSikWSSlMS-. Few questions are 

 asked oftener than, "How shall I Italianize? 

 and when shall I do itV There is always a 

 loss in removing a queen and substituting 

 another, even where we have laying queens 

 091 hand ; and where we are to use the same 

 colony for rearing a qneen there is a still 

 greater loss. Laider the head of artificial 

 SWARMING and queex rearing, these 

 lK)ints are fully discussed. Where one has 

 ati apiary of black bees, his cheapest way, 

 especially if he has plenty of lime to devote 

 to the suhject, is to purchase a choice tested 

 queen, and rear his own queens from her. 

 If he has as many as a dozen colonies, and 

 irroposes to continue to increase the number, 

 it may be his best and surest way. to pur- 

 chase an imported queen. If the choice 

 queen is purchased in the spring or summer 

 months, I would not remove the old queens, 

 luitil the summer crop of honey is over; but, 

 instead of allowing natural s^A'arming, take 

 two or three frames from each old stock 

 ;ii>out swarming time, and make nuclei, 

 giving them queen cells from the Italian 

 brood. When these queens are hatdied and 

 laying, build the nuclei up, with frames of 

 brood given one at a time, until they are full 

 stocks. By such a course, you have tlie full 

 l>enefit of your old queens during the honey 

 season, mitil the new ones are ready to take 

 their place. After the honey yield has be- 

 gtin to cease, you can remove the old queens, 

 and give the now sm;<ll colonies, que-en cells- 



as you did the nuclei at first. This does thit' 

 swarming for the season, and the Italian- 

 izing, atone and the same time. 



If you have more money than time to 

 spare, and wish to have the work done up 

 quickly, purchase as many queens as you 

 have colonies, and introduce them at any 

 season of the year, as directed in intro- 

 ducing QFKKNs. You can purchase all 

 tested qiieens if you wish, but I would ad- 

 vise taking the dollar queens, while there is 

 any great difference in price. 



After your stocks have all been provided 

 with Italian queens, by either of the plans 

 given above, if you wish your bees to be 

 pure Italians, you are to commence replac- 

 ing all queens that prove to be hybrids, as 

 soon as the young bees are hatched in suffi- 

 cient numbers to enable you to decide. See 

 ITALIAN BEES. Now, if houcy ouly is your 

 object, I would not replace these hybrids, 

 until they are one or two years old : for they 

 vvill average just as well as honey gatherers. 

 j and will raise just as pure drones, as the full 

 : blood Italians. If you should find the bees 

 , of any particular queen too cross to be en- 

 ■ durable, replace her with another, at any 

 time. Be careful, however, that these hy- 

 brid colonies are not allowed to swarm 

 i naturally, for, if they raise a queen, she avIII 

 i produce hybrid drones ; and this is some- 

 thing we wish scrupulously to guard against. 

 It will be better to raise all the queens your- 

 self, and practice artificial swarming exclus- 

 j ively, while you iwe seeking to Italianize, 

 especially, if you are surrounded with com- 

 ' inon bees. If you practice in the manner 

 . given above, you can reap the full benefit of 

 the Italian blood, even though there are 

 hundreds of stocks of the common bees, 

 I within the range of your apiary. But, if you 

 ' are going to raise queens for the market. 

 , you sliould buy up or Italianize all the com- 

 ' mon bees within two or three miles of you. 

 1 in every direction. The more faithfully you 

 ' do this, the better satisfaction will you give 

 ' your customers. Tour neighbors will very 

 , soon be converted to the Italians, if you 

 I keep right along and let crops of honey. 

 , rather than talk. de<jide the matter, and 

 then they will be quite willing to pay you 

 I for introducing Italian queens into their 

 I colonies. Be sure you do not quaiTel, and 

 ; foster any bad spirit in the matter, but let 

 i them have their own way, even if it, at 

 times, is aggravating ; and, in a very few 

 years, you will succeed in having your whole 

 ' neighborhood Italianized. 



