io6 
Appendix, 
I have heard it said that they are more spiteful 
and less easy to manage than common bees. My 
experience has been quite the contrary. They are, it 
is true, more active and, above all, more sensitive to 
anything which interferes with them ; but it is quite 
sufficient for the bee-master to blow a puff of smoke 
into the hive as a warning, in order to empty all the 
bees out of it, without having to defend himself 
against their stings. 
To sum up : Italian bees are more beautiful, more 
fertile, more active, and consequently more productive 
than the common bees, and we cannot advise their 
culture too strongly. It is enough to introduce an 
Italian in the place of a common queen, and, either in 
the spring or summer, in the course of six weeks after 
her introduction, the hive will be entirely transformed. 
In order to raise pure-bred Italian queens, notice 
should be taken the previous year which Italian 
colonies produce the finest drones. These should be 
strengthened, early in the spring, by the introduction 
of comb filled with worker brood taken from stocks 
of common bees. When these last become well 
populated with bees, which should be the case in 
April, introduce into each of them a piece of comb 
containing drone brood taken from the before chosen 
Italian stock. This plan will insure a large number 
of Italian drones by the end of the month, and earlier 
than those of the common variety. When these 
drones are on the point of being hatched out, artificial 
swarms, by division, should be made from these hives. 
