132 BEE-FJRMING. 



HOW TO FILL THE APIARY WITH 

 ITALIAN STOCKS. 



We are not well versed in raising artificial queens, 

 because we have never followed this method ; our plan 

 having been, to make the apiary profitable. An apiary in 

 which experiments are being constantly performed will 

 never prove successful. The late Rev. W. C Cotton at 

 one time purchased fourteen good stocks the same year, 

 and lost thetn all by experiments. We, therefore, give Mr. 

 Quinby's account of artificial rearing of Italian queens, 

 so that any bee-farmer who wishes to do so may try his 

 plan. 



" Queens enough can be reared in one summer to 

 supply the whole apiary no matter how many may be 

 required, and if this is decided upon take no pains to 

 isolate, but rear all the queens at home, and let them meet 

 the native drone. These will produce mixed workers but 

 pure drones. 



" To rear queens artificially, inclose a few bees, a pint 

 or a quart, without a queen, with a small piece of comb 

 containing larvse or eggs. To do this, make a little box 

 or minature hive large enough to hold three combs or 

 more — four or five inches square. Suspend frames within 

 just as in the hive. Fit in them pieces of dry comb, and 

 fasten with a bit of tin. Get a piece of comb containing 

 eggs or larva (about two inches square) ; cut a piece ex- 

 actly the same size, except underside, out of the middle 

 of one of the combs and insert it. The bees will weld it 

 fast in a few hours. Not finding a queen, they will in a 

 kw hours commence rearing one or more, by converting 

 common cells into queen cells, and working larvas into 

 queens. When the larvse are just the right age six or 



