ITALIANIZING. 6 1 



pure bees grown from these eggs would supply the 

 places of the black-bees as they gradually died off. 

 Where one has black bees, or where there are black 

 bees kept in the near vicinity, there is no certainty 

 that the queens will mate with Italian drones. 

 On about the fifth day after hatching, the young 

 queens leave the hive for their wedding journey. 

 They simply take a flight in the air for the purpose 

 of meeting the drone. Having met him, they return 

 to the hive, never to leave it again, except they 

 should lead out a swarm. Now if black drones are 

 numerous, it is quite probable the queens will mate 

 with them, then, however pure-blooded the queens 

 may be, their progeny will be hybrids. Upon the 

 problem of securing pure fertilization for the young 

 queens I intended to rear from the imported Italian 

 mother, I had studied a good deal for the past three 

 months. 



To grow the young queens from the eggs of 

 the pure mother was easy. But if I had the 

 numerous black drones which my thirty-six hives 

 of black bees would soon produce, flying in pursuit 

 of my beautiful young Italian virgins, when they 

 went out for their marriage flight, it would not be 

 easy to secure their pure fertilization ; indeed it 

 would be impossible. About the time I sent for the 

 swarm of Italians I had hit upon a plan which 

 seemed possible. I determined to make it succeed 



