THOUSAND ANSWERS 201 



that you should receive back a certain number of colonies at a 

 specified time, then the agreement should be carried out, even if 

 the man to whom the bees were let should have to buy bees to 

 make out the number. As to disposal of the increase, a common 

 custom is to divide equally, but that custom is hard'y law. You 

 let the man have 28 colonies, and you say "he left me only 28 

 with half of the increase, and the increase was 8 swarms." If you 

 mean by that that you got back the original number, 28, and half 

 of the 8 swarms, or 32 in all, it would seem right. As to the condi- 

 tion of the bees in the fall with respect to stores, that depends 

 upon agreement; you would get the bees back in the fall without 

 any feeding, if the season was so poor that they needed feeding 

 in the fall. But if they had plenty of stores for winter in the 

 brood-chamber before turning over the bees to you, then I should 

 say he was not trying to play fair. In a matter of this kind, if 

 there is no written agreement, the fair thing to both parties is the 

 fair thing to do. If you have bees and I take care of them, I fur- 

 nish the time and perhaps the location, and you furnish the bees. 

 If there is no honey, I have lost my time, and you will have to lose 

 your bees unless you furnish me with honey to feed them, in 

 which case I would feel compelled to do the work. But if there 

 is a crop and I make some money, you are entitled to a part of the 

 profit. The custom is for the man who furnishes the bees to fur- 

 nish material, hives, sections, etc., and the crop and swarms are 

 divided equally. This is a fair division between labor and capital. 



Requeening. — Q. Do you think I need to requeen the colonies 

 this fall that I requeened last summer? If they are good this 

 spring will they be good next spring? 



A. No need to requeen if the queens are good. 



Q. If I introduce an Italian queen into a colony of black bees, 

 will her ofifspring be pure? 



A When a new fertilized queen is introduced, all the bees in 

 the hive will be of the new stock just as soon as the offspring of 

 the old queen have died off, and in the busy season that will be in 

 about two months, or a little more. If the new queen is pure 

 Italian and purely mated, then all the new workers will be 

 Italians. 



Q. To requeen all or part of an apiary with ripe cells from a 

 breeder, I thought of dequeening about August 1 and introducing 

 ripe cells. The bees hatched from eggs laid by the old queen 

 from August 1 to 14 (when the new queen would begin to lay) 

 would not, I think, aid materially in the harvest, which is about 



