135 
mencing in the business, and promising to replace them 
if not pure, is a bad one. The purchaser, probably, 
has never seen an Italian bee and cannot be a judge of 
purity. In many cases he will be satisfied with what he 
gets, and begin to breed queens from her. Although 
any mixture of Italian blood is an improvement on the 
black variety, yet in the following generation not even 
the drones will be pure, and the stocks finally degener- 
ate, becoming little better than black stocks, and the 
purchaser is disappointed and discouraged. 
It is always the best policy to pay a large price for a 
queen, warranted pure , by one whose reputation is at 
stake in the matter, than to get a cheap queen which 
may be a hybrid. It can be easily understood that a 
person, who has nothing to charge for but the simple 
act of raising a queen — whether hybrid or not — can 
sell them very cheaply. 
After having Italianized all your bees and those of 
your neighbors residing within three miles, queens may 
be raised without much fear of having them fertilized 
by black drones. Having already given the directions for 
raising a few queens, I shall now point out the rules to 
be observed in raising a larger number. 
NUCLEUS HIVES. 
After using various styles and sizes oi nucleus hives, 
we have found that none are more convenient and prof- 
