THE ITALIAN BEE. 455 



Having one fertile Italian queen, in the Spring or early 

 Summer, the Apiarian should proceed substantially as fol- 

 lows : Let him make a powerful stock of bees in a hive 

 giving him the control of the combs, putting into the center 

 some combs which contain a large number of drone cells. 

 Deprive this transferred stock of its queen, as soon as they 

 have repaired their combs, and with suitable precautions, 

 introduce to them the Italian queen. When the drone cells 

 are filled with capped brood, let nuclei be formed from this 

 stock. Brood combs must not, however, be removed too often, 

 unless the Apiarian can keep the parent stock strong, by 

 supplying it from other hives with combs containing bees just 

 ready to hatch. As soon as the queens in the nuclei begin to 

 mature, adjust the non-swarmer to all the hives in the Apiary 

 containing common drones, so as to shut in the drones, 

 (p. 203,) but give free egress and ingress to queens and work- 

 ers. In this way, the drones bred by the Italian queen having 

 their liberty, all the young females will be fertilized by them. 



As fast as the queen of any nucleus becomes fertile and 

 has replenished the cells with eggs, remove her and give her 

 to some strong stock of common bees, which has previously 

 been deprived of its queen. The nucleus will now attempt 

 to raise more, which before they hatch may be used for 

 other colonies, one only being left behind. Soon after any 

 strong stock with movable combs obtains a fertile Italian 

 queen, nuclei may be formed from it, and in this way as 

 many be raised as the necessities of the Apiary may 

 require. 



A portion of the Italian drone brood ought to be given to 

 some of the nuclei, and more drone comb put in its place, in 

 the hive having the original Italian queen, so that in case the 

 drones are killed in this colony, others will still be on hand. 

 The Apiarian should also, later in the season, remove the 



