DADANT SYSTEM OP BEEKEEPING 



59 



foreign blood, while with recognized good races of so-called 

 gray bees, such as the Carniolan or the Caucasian, it is very 

 difficult, if not impossible, to detect a small mixture of the com- 

 mon black bee. The Italians, to our mind, have so thoroughly 

 proved their worth, that we seek no further than pure bees of 

 that race. Imported Italians have been our best bees. 



With the method of removing drone combs from unde- 

 sirable colonies, we secure a very large percentage of good 

 ma tings, for the colonies from which drone-combs have been 

 taken rarely rear more than 200 to 300 drones, while we secure 

 several thousands in our selected colonies by placing drone combs 

 in the center of the brood nest. 



We also select two of our best queens for queen producers. 

 When the time comes, at the opening of what we call the honey 



Fig. 37. Queen-cells hang downwards and are built preferable in open 

 spaces on new comb 



