THE ITALIAN OR LIGURIAN BEE. 39 
in this way, insert into it, from the hive which now 
contains your Italian queen, a frame containing eges, 
and from that they will rear others. Before doing 
this, look over all the frames carefully to see that 
they have not commenced cells from their own eggs. 
“After you have a fertile queen in each hive, 
watch the young worker bees as they hatch, and if 
all, or nearly so, are slender in form and have three 
distinct golden rings, you may hope they are pure. 
If there is a doubt about any one, you can exchange 
it for another at your leisure. Bear in mind that 
the main thing the first season is to get a young 
queen in every hive reared from the one you pur- 
chased. That accomplished, all your drones will 
afterwards be pure, and young queens reared from 
that time forth will be sure to meet pure drones. 
The following spring your hives will have drones in 
them two weeks in advance of all black bees in the 
neighbourhood; and if yours are strong, and you 
make early swarms, the chances are much in favour 
of your queens being purely fertilised. 
“The second season of your operations all doubtful 
queens should be replaced; and if pains be taken 
you can easily have none but pure queens in your 
hives while the original queen which you purchased 
lives. I find the temper and disposition of the bees 
a better test of purity than their markings. The 
Italians are more easily managed, and less easily 
provoked to anger. If you open a hive of them, 
and lift out a frame, instead of flying in all direc- 
tions and getting in a rage (as do the black bees), 
hardly a bee leaves the comb—all cling to it quietly 
