ITALIANIZING. 63 



which were not thus cut out, I had mercilessly be- 

 headed with a small sharp knife. Then in giving 

 frames of comb to my hives after transferring, I had 

 given them only frames containing worker-comb, 

 and perhaps a few drone-cells scattered here and 

 there. 



5. All persons know that bees kill off their drones 

 in the fall, and raise new ones in the spring before 

 they will be needed. My hives, then, on the day I 

 gave them their combs after transferring, had no 

 hatched drones, they had no capped drone-brood, 

 and they had but few drone-cells in any of their 

 combs. It was possible that in some of these few 

 drone-cells there were drone larvse just ready to cap. 

 Unless I could guard against these possible drones 

 they would probably give me trouble. 



6. After drone brood has been capped over it is 

 at least fourteen days before it hatches. Assuming 

 that there were some drone larvse, just ready to be 

 capped, in the frames when they were given to the 

 bees after transferring, this brood would hatch out 

 on the fourteenth day after. If, now, on the thir- 

 teenth day after, I examined each comb, and be- 

 headed every capped drone in his cell, there would 

 be no danger of any black drones appearing within 

 another two weeks, when I could again examine 

 and behead. This course involved a good deal of 

 care and labor in looking over the combs two or 



