114 ITALIAN BEES. 



her raise only queens; permitting them to mate with black drones, than 

 to get both the drone and the egg for the queen from the same queen. 



QUEEN BEARING. 



Pure Italian queen rearing is important to apiculture in our country, 

 more for the benefit of new blood, than because of the superiority in the 

 bees themselves. But those who rear them, in order to get the best 

 bees, must not continue to breed from the same queen, and her direct 

 progeny, because of bright color; but must constantly introduce new 

 pure Italian blood, into their breeding departments, both from abroad 

 and from other apiaries in our own country. But, for the interest in 

 the Italian bee, perhaps not for a long time to come, would bee-keepers 

 have learned to cage, ship, import, and introduce queens as they have, 

 thus opening up a way for improvement in the bees themselves, as well 

 as in modes of management for profit. The conclusion which we have 

 reached on this subject is this: Encourage the Italian queen rearers, so 

 that they can, and will furnish good, pure stock, and at the same time 

 introduce new blood — the best blood you can get for hard work in the 

 apiary. It may be that still greater results may be gotten from intro- 

 ducing, and crossing the Dalmatian, Cyprian, and Egyptian bees, with 

 those we now have. Seek improvement in bees, just as in stock, by 

 . mixing and crossing and continuous breeding in pure strains for cross- 

 ing with others. 



CHANGING A STOCK OF COMMON BEES TO ITALIANS. 



To Italianize a colony of black bees, it is only necessary to removo 

 the native queen and substitute in her place a fertile Italian queen. The 

 Italian queen will commence laying almost immediately, her progeny 

 beginning to hatch in about three weeks, and in from three to six months 

 the whole stock will be pure Italian. The native queen is most easily 

 found by opening the hive near the middle of a clear day, when many 

 bees are absent in the fields. Handle the combs carefully, look- 

 ing over one at a time, using the smoke sparingly, lest the queen 

 be driven from the combs. It may sometimes be necessary to shake 



