336 A Modern Bee-Farm 
turn out mismated, and the average breeder is content to 
produce mere hybrids. The native drone is so much 
stronger on the wing than the average Italian that the 
latter is sure to fail. Consequently | 
A Process of Selection 
and breeding the most vigorous drones has alone enabled 
the Author to secure a complete reversal of the above 
ordet of mating. By this means alone he finds it possible 
to secure correct mating in nearly every case, because he 
flies only those drones that are capable of outstripping any 
native males that may be in the neighbourhood.* 
But, dear Reader, you may spend many years, or even a 
lifetime, in endeavoring to breed up a more vigorous 
strain, if you will not see the necessity of “swamping” 
the neighbourhood with your picked drones. They must 
be flying in their 
Tens of Thousands, 
and you must not only be able to do this, but also quite 
prepared to sacrifice several stocks in doing it. Drone 
breeding colonies are of very little use for honey, and 
after midsummer are kept up with some difficulty, as 
no queen must be allowed them after the middle of July, 
when with liberal feeding your drones will be permitted 
to reach Winter if so desired ; but by then the workers, 
though brood may have been given occasionally, are not 
worth wintering. Consequently during October I usually 
appropriate the stores for other more serviceable stocks. 
On the other hand, the queenless stock may be saved by 
giving a fertile queen early in October, or sooner if there 
are no more young queens to be mated. 
* The Author also confirms his system of pedigree breeding by 
securing the mating of*many selected queens in Autumn after all 
odd drones are disposed of. 
