60 THE BLESSED BEES. 



I had put the drone brood in two frames, which I 

 took to one of my strongest black stocks, and in- 

 serted them in the centre, in place of two frames of 

 brood which were taken out and given to one of the 

 weak stocks. The remaining combs from the Italian 

 hive I put in one of my hives, carried it out and set 

 it where the old hive was, spread a sheet in front 

 and shook the bees from the old hive upon it. 

 They at once began to crawl to the hive, and I sat 

 down and watched carefully, hoping to get a sight 

 of my new and precious queen. She was easily 

 found, and gave me much satisfaction, being large, 

 healthy-looking, and light-colored. All the bees in 

 the hive seemed to be pure Italians, being distinctly 

 marked with the three brilliant orange bands on the 

 abdomen. 



Having now the pure imported Italian queen my 

 object was to rear young queens from her eggs, and 

 to insure their fertilization by drones raised from 

 her eggs, then my queens being pure, and fertilised 

 by pure drones, all their progeny would be pure 

 Italians, and so in a few weeks after introducing 

 these young queens to my black-stocks all my bees 

 ' would be pure Italians, for in the working season 

 the worker-bee lives only about six weeks. 3 The old 

 ones die off, and their places are taken by the young 

 bees raised in the hive. If, then, in every hive 

 there was a pure Italian queen, depositing eggs, the 



