54 
On Rational Bee-Keeping. 
the second fortnight in June, if near the moun- 
tains. Put in its place your hive with one or 
more combs containing brood, either with bees 
or without ; the bees which are out gathering 
honey, coming back from the country, will fill 
your empty hive, they will hasten to construct 
royal cells, and your swarm will be made. 
The removal of the strong hive of bees for 
this purpose will not prevent us, if the season 
is favourable, from making an artificial swarm 
a fortnight afterwards in the way previously 
indicated. 
The second method pointed out presents great 
advantages for the multiplying of Italian bees ; 
for combs which contain Italian brood or eggs 
produce Italian queens, and at the end of two 
months the common bees will have disappeared, 
and will have been replaced by Italians. 
In three years I have obtained, with a single 
Italian queen, twenty swarms, either of pure 
Italians or mongrels. 
For the purpose of removing the comb, it is 
best to have a small hooked knife, with two 
blades, which is inserted from the top of the 
hive, and used by sliding it along, either from 
the top of the hive to the bottom, or vice versa, 
