116 ITALIANIZING A WHOLE APIARY. 



or a swarm may be driven from a strong stock in the box hive, 

 as directed on page 60, and after returning the native queen to 

 the parent stock, the Itahan queen may be introduced to the 

 swarm in the new hive. Again, a queen may be given to a 

 natural swarm after hunting out the black queen. If another 

 Italian queen cannot be had, the black queen should be returned 

 to the parent stock. 



ITALIANIZING A WHOLE APIARY. 



"^4. man near Gotha, Germany, purchased two stands of Ital- 

 ian bees five years ago, and in the spring of 1866 had increased 

 his number to twenty-five stands, not one queen of which had 

 mated with the black drones, though hundreds of common colonies 

 were within two miles of him. His secret is to keep his colonies 

 always very strong, not aiming at a rapid increase, and making 

 his swarms very early. The instinct of the Italians is to rear 

 drones earlier than the other bee, and they rear brood much faster 

 in the spring, so that it is safe to '•do 1 the swarming before the 

 black drones appear, and thus secure the impregnation of your 

 young queens by Italian drones." — Prairie Farmer. 



If the colonies are in box hives, transfer one or more strong 

 stocks and obtain queens for them any time during the season 

 from May to November. In order to commence with pure 

 stock, the queens should be obtained from some reliable person, 

 as almost every subterfuge is resorted to by unprincipled dealers 

 to make the public believe that they, above all others, have the 

 location for breeding pure Italians. Early the next spring, 

 place drone comb near the centre of your Italian stocks, and feed 

 them regularly to induce early breeding, and bring the drones 

 forward several weeks before black drones appear. If your 



