and its Economic Management. 51 



queen-raising (see chapter on same), and allow one nucleus 

 with a young queen to stand by the side of every stock. By 

 the Autumn such nuclei will have themselves become fairly 

 strong, when the old queens can be destroyed and the two lots 

 respectively united in the evening of the following day. 



Having studied the general rules to be observed if we wish 

 to have only good working stock, we must now consider which 

 are the 



Most Suitable Bees 



for our purpose, whether we intend to work them for comb 

 or extracted honey. 



The advantages to be derived from the foreign varieties 

 can hardly be over-estimated, for by crossing with queens of 

 the native kind, we get greater fecundity, and better honey- 

 gathering -powers than either pure race possesses. In a former 

 chapter I have already shown that a black queen must form 

 the basis from which to build the very best working strain. 

 Select such queen- of known excellence and for the production 

 of comb-honey use Carniolan drones to mate with young ones 

 raised from her ; the first cross being the most suitable. 



For extracted honey the second cross to Cyprian drones 

 will be found to give the best results. Pure black bees are 

 not at all desirable for either purpose, as they cease storing 

 quite a month sooner than the foreign varieties or hybrids ; 

 moreover, they are fi'equently troubled with the -wax moth, 

 while the latter never are. Pure Cyprians, Carniolans, 

 Syrians, and Ligurians, in the order named, are also suitable 

 for producing extracted honey. 



Let it be observed that black (native) drones are to be 

 rigorously excluded, as these give bad-tempered workers when 

 ■crossed with a queen of either of the foreign varieties. Syrian 

 ■drones also should not be allowed, though queens of that 

 "variety crossed with Carniolan drbnes produce excellent 

 bees. 



