THE ITALIAN OE LIGTTEIAN BEB. 327 



I have raised nineteen in twenty beautiful queens from one 

 mother, in July and August ; and from the same in Octo- 

 ber, three out of four would be black and small. 



Mr. Langstroth suggests that the cause of this lies in 

 their being reared by weak colonies. After close observa- 

 tion, I have failed to discover much in confirmation of this 

 view. Weak nuclei with abundance of honey, in warm 

 weather, raise fair queens ; strong ones in cool weather 

 raise very poor ones. 



BEST TIME TO OBTAIN BEOOD. 



From noon till 3 P. M. is decidedly the best time in the 

 day to obtain the brood. While busy at work, the bees 

 have not time to notice what is going on. Go to the hive, 

 containing your best Italian brood, and take out different 

 combs, till you find brood of the right age, and with a 

 sharp knife, cut out suitable pieces. Have at hand some 

 empty clean brood comb, from which cut pieces to ex- 

 actly replace them. The bees will soon fasten them in 

 place. In these cases it is well to have some smoke on 

 hand, in case of emergency, but it is seldom necessary. 

 Care must be observed not to allow brood or a queen-cell 

 to become chilled. The rearing boxes, being small, will 

 be affected by the changes of the weather, more than 

 hives, and on some occasions wiU need some protection. 

 Throw a blanket over the box, or take it in the house 

 for the night. 



It is unnecessary to raise queens before there are any 

 drones to meet them. It is said by some that the drone 

 should be at least two weeks old. About the fifth or sixth 

 day after the queen leaves the cell, she issues for the pur- 

 pose of meeting the drone ; if successful, she commences 

 laying about the eighth day. This rule, however, hke oth- 

 ers, is liable to exceptions. The queen may be safely in- 

 troduced, to the native stock, by taking the following pre- 



