702 Eestocking of Bees Scheme. [Nov., 



Eestocking Scheme should be the introduction of the Italian 

 Bee. 



Owing to regulations in force in Italy, however, the expor- 

 tation of stocks of bees from that country was prohibited, and 

 it was possible only to introduce Italian Queen Bees. It was 

 therefore necessary to import from another country the stocks 

 of bees required for the production of nuclei, or miniature 

 stocks, to which the Italian blood would subsequently be intro- 

 duced. Dutch bees were chosen for this purpose for two 

 reasons — (1) because of their great powers of increase, by 

 reason of whicJi the production of nuclei would be accelerated, 

 and (2) because they were the survivors of a serious attack of 

 bee disease in Holland some seventy years ago, and therefore 

 were possessed of a certain immunity from Isle of Wight 

 •disease. 



To assist in the work of restocking. County Horticultural 

 "Sub-Committees were asked to form Bee Committees for their 

 €Ounties, to deal with the establishment of Eestocking Apiaries 

 for the rearing of nuclei and the subsequent introduction of 

 the Italian blood. This request was responded to by 28 of 

 the counties in England and Wales. 



268 Dutch stocks were ordered, and these were brought 

 to this country in April, 1919, without the loss of a single 

 <?.olony. The bees were not in modern movable comb hives, 

 but in conical straw skeps about 2 ft. high. ,251 were distri- 

 buted to the above-mentioned Bee Committees, and the 

 remainder were forwarded, also for restocking purposes, to 

 the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion, and to private bee-keepers, who, having heard of the 

 proposed scheme, desired to participate, if the Ministry should 

 have any surplus stocks in hand. In some cases the bee- 

 keepers transferred the bees to movable comb hives, but in 

 •others the original straw skeps were . retained and are still 

 being used. 



700 pure fertile Italian queen bees were ordered from a 

 reliable queen rearer, and were delivered in consignments by 

 registered post during the period May- August. Each queen 

 bee travelled in a small wooden mailing cage having a chamber 

 for bee-food, and was accompanied by a few worker bees for 

 the purpose of feeding the queen during the journey and the 

 period of segregation necessary before actual introduction to a 

 new hive. 408 queens were despatched to the Eestocking 

 Apiaries, and the remainder to private bee-keepers. 



During the summer, a total of 1,171 nuclei, each of which 



