HOW TO ITALIANIZE COMMON STOCKS. 85 
Durham does to the native scrub. The Dr. cautioned 
against breeding “in and in,” and he and other gentle- 
men advised bee-keepers to purchase queens both from 
the Parsons and Rose stock, to prevent too close breed- 
ine.” 
My own experience with Italian bees, differing some- 
what from those above given, has not yet been such as to 
warrant a decided opinion in all respects. Of their gen- 
eral superiority, however, there can be no question. I 
have found them quite as gentle as the common kind ; 
for, though quicker on the wing, I have been stung only 
twice by them, so as to cause any swelling or pain, dur- 
ing a daily and almost hourly handling of them for two 
years. I have, moreover, been too much engaged in 
queen rearing and experiments to determine defin tely 
their comparative industry. They seem to fly swifter and 
work more hours than common bees, which they easily mas- 
ter, and whose stores they appropriate. I noticed, the past 
season, that one of my Italian hives was rapidly accumu- 
lating honey, while others were diminishing in weight. 
Looking into the hive, a short time after, I found it run- 
ning over with bees, a large portion of them being black. 
I did not see them come nor know whence they came, as 
I had in previous instances of robbing ; but they were 
doubtless a subdued colony of blacks (not “ contra- 
bands”), which, after hard fighting, being spoiled of their 
treasures, had sought protection under the “gis of the 
union.” 
HOW TO ITALIANIZE COMMON STOCKS. 
The process of introducing the Italian race has been, to 
procure a queen, and after rendering a swarm of common 
bees hopelessly queenless by taking away its queen and 
