ITALIANIZING A WHOLE APIARY. 
77 
or a swarm may be driven from a strong stock in the box hive, 
as directed on page 60, and after returning the native queen to 
the parent stock, the Italian queen may be introduced to the 
swarm in the new hive. Again, a queen may be given to a 
natural swarm after hunting out the black queen. If another 
Italian queen cannot be had, the black queen should be returned 
to the parent stock. 
ITALIANIZING A WHOLE APIARY. 
“A man near Gotha, Germany, purchased two stands of Ital- 
ian bees five years ago, and in the spring of 1866 had increased 
his number to twenty-five stands, not one queen of which had 
mated with the black drones, though hundreds of common colonies 
were within two miles of him. His secret is to keep liis colonies 
always very strong, not aiming at a rapid increase, and making 
his swarms very early. The instinct of the Italians is to rear 
drones earlier than the other bee, and they rear brood much faster 
in the spring, so that it is safe to ' do' the swarming before the 
black drones appear, and thus secure the impregnation of your 
young queens by Italian drones ." — Prairie Farmer. 
If the colonies are in box hives, transfer one or more strong 
stocks and obtain queens for them any time during the season 
from May to November. In order to commence with pure 
stock, the queens should be obtained from some reliable person, 
as almost every subterfuge is resorted to by unprincipled dealers 
to make the public believe that they, above all others, have the 
location for breeding pure Italians. Early the next spring, 
place drone comb near the centre of your Italian stocks, and feed 
them regularly to induce early breeding, and bring the drones 
forward several weeks before black drones appear. If your 
