330 THE ITALIAN OE LIGUEIAN BEE. 



as far as my experience extends — well received. I have 

 succeeded with equal satisfaction, and mucli less trouble 

 with the following method, due to Mr. L. A. Aspinwall. 

 It is simply to immerse the queen in a little honey — 

 slightly wanned, if necessary — and drop her among the 

 bees, which immediately commence licking her off, and 

 forget that she is a usurper. This is so much less trouble 

 that I prefer it, and consider myself very much indebted 

 to him for the suggestion. 



I would remark that if the Italian queen is introduced 

 in the swarming season, when the bees are gathering 

 abundance of honey, and the colony is strong enough to 

 divide — making two — ^it would be well to do so, as it 

 saves the trouble of looking up more than one queen for 

 two hives, and you can find this one with much less 

 trouble. (Directions for dividing may be found in the 

 chapter on artificial swarms.) 



ITALIANIZING THE BOX HIVE. 



There are some who will still continue to use the box 

 hive, who will wish to furnish them with Italian queens. 

 It can be done, but involves a little more trouble, and 

 the bees are kept a little longer without a laying queen ; 

 there is also a delay of "some weeks, before you are 

 certain of success. The process is as follows : 



Drive out the bees, find and remove the queen, allow- 

 ing the bees to return immediately. According to the 

 rule, in twelve days they will mature a successor, and 

 the first one that hatches will destroy the others before 

 they mature. In eight days she wUl commence laying. 



This must not be allowed, but as soon as it is certain 

 that she has destroyed all her royal sisters, which will be 

 in two or three days at farthest, and before she begins 

 laying, she herself must be destroyed. — Any immature 

 queens found about the entrance will indicate the des- 



