64 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 24, 1860. 
drones. The queen has the same marks as the working bees, 
but much more conspicuous and lighter; she is much larger than 
the black queen, and easy to be singled out of the swarm, on 
account of her remarkable bodily size and light colour.” 
[A very good description of the workers. Of the drones 
nothing is yet known in England. We hare seen nearly a dozen 
queens of this species, and none of them were at all larger than a 
good-sized common queen, whilst some amongst them were de¬ 
cidedly smaller.] 
“The bees are almost transparent when the sun shines on 
them.” 
[This transparency is confined to the orange-red abdominal 
rings, and is very remarkable.] 
“ This race has nothing in common with the black bees, which 
can be instantly seen by their ways and manner of building. The 
cells of the Italian bees are considerably deeper and broader than 
those of the black bees. Fifteen cells of the Italians are as broad 
as sixteen cells of the black kind. It must be very interesting to 
measure them geometrically.” 
[None of their combs have, we believe, reached England ; but 
if their cells are so much larger than those fabricated by the 
common species, it is somewhat extraordinary that no difference 
could be detected in the size of the bees themselves, even when 
those examined were stated by M. Hermann to have been for¬ 
warded direct from the Alps, where, of course, they were bred in 
their own comb3.] 
“ The Marquis of Spinola has called this bee the Apis ligustiea, 
but on the same ground the Bavarians may call their bee Apis 
Bavaria, or the Berlinians theirs, the Apis Borussia, &e. The 
circumstance that these yellow bees are only to be found in the 
most perfect condition on the borders of Graubunden, in the 
Veltlin and Tessins, and that, the farther one goes from the Alps, 
the less handsome they are found, as for example in Nice, 
until they are entirely lost in lower Italy in the black species, 
speaks for itself, that the yellow Alp-bees have been, through 
the glaciers, insurmountably separated from the black bees on 
this side of the Alps, and could preserve their race in original 
purity, while they might and could mix more, by latter gradual 
spreading, in lower Italy, Venice, Genoa, and Nice, with other 
kinds. We must therefore look for the original in Switzerland, 
and can call them with as much right Apis Helvetica , as the 
Genoese call them Apis Lignstiea .” 
“ Breeding of the Queen. —For that purpose choose the largest 
hive, for it is an old saying that ‘ a large cow will produce a 
large calf.’—From so fine a hive you certainly have fine young 
ones. As it is known that out of every working-bee-egg the bees 
can breed a queen, and that they often prepare as many as from 
six to thirty at the same time, advantage must be taken of that 
fact. But do not begin with the breeding of queens until the 
bees are sufficiently strong, and have commenced the breeding of 
drones. This must be particularly attended to if you want to 
breed afterwards pure Italians; for to insure their mating only 
with Italian drones, these must first exist, and that in strong 
numbers. 
“ How to "breed Italian Queens when in possession of one or 
two whole Italian Hives. —When you have one or two Italian 
hives, you must endeavour to put them into hives with moveable 
parts, if they are not already in such. Then care must be taken, 
that by continual feeding with good honey, and filling up of the 
hive with sufficient combs, they increase their strength and pre¬ 
pare a good many drones. The trouble is much less if the Italian 
bees are on a stand by themselves, about 500 or 1000 yards from 
the others, the farther the better. It will be well to be cautious, 
to leave one hive undivided and untouched that they continue to 
breed many drones, for the divided hive will not produce any 
more drones in the same year; therefore, one hive must bo kept 
strong and untouched, so that you do not run short in drone¬ 
breeding. When there are sufficient drones or drone-brood on 
hand, take from a hive the Italian queen with the third part of 
her people and building, and fill up the missing two-thirds with 
empty and full combs. This queen is now taken to a distant 
stand where the common or black bee is kept, and placed in the 
stead of a populous hive during the absence of the most part of the 
bees. The black bees will at first be surprised and refuse to enter, 
as these two species hate each other. Should they entirely refuse 
to enter, then remove during the flight the whole of the black 
hives standing on the same front; the returning bees will then 
bo frightened, and not knowing where to go to, will, in the end, 
willingly, and without disturbance, enter to the Italian mother, 
which by those means will soon get strong again; and in about 
five or seven days, will have laid sufficient eggs to part them 
again; and so you can continue as long as you wish to Italianise, 
In that manner, if the queen is forthwith strengthened by 
German bees, no disturbance takes place in the breeding of 
drones, you have only to put in a few drone-cells. But that the 
Italian mother does not receive black drones as well, place 
before the fly-hole a drone-stopper to keep those customers out. 
Let us now return to the Italian stand, whence we have taken 
the mother with a third of the people. Meanwhile they have 
made preparations to begin queen-cells, and mostly more than 
one, perhaps from ten to twenty. On the eleventh, the latest on 
the seventeenth day, they creep out, and, not to expose them to 
the danger of the surplus ones being killed by the bees, they 
must be looked after on the eighth or ninth day, and all queen- 
cells but one or two must be cut out. The cut-out cells are put 
with a honeycomb and a few handfuls of bees into a little box 
about four or six inches square. These boxes must have wires 
on two, or, better, on all four sides, so that the bees get used to 
the smell of each other, and thus become reconciled. In such a 
box the Italian queen-cell is put in to a hive of black bees, which 
the day previous has been deprived of the queen, and if possible 
in the centre or the heart of the nest. The black bees cannot 
now enter into the box, but become acquainted, through the 
wire, with the smell of the Italian bees; and by the time the 
queen, which will be well taken care of by the two handfuls of 
bees put with her, is matured, the black bees will have taken a 
liking to her. About three or five days after the adding of the 
queen-cell, you must look whether the black bees have not formed 
queen-cells'of their own species, if so, they must be cut out. 
Then, the following day, the fly-hole in the little box which has 
been kept shut is slowly opened, and the black bees will gradually 
enter into the box and pay their homage to the new queen. To 
prevent the mating of the queen with a black drone, a wire must 
be attached before the fly-hole of the hive, large enough for the 
queen and bees to fly out (for the queen only mates in the open 
air) but too small for drones, which are in the black hive; then 
the stand must be placed where the Italian mother-hive is, until 
the queen is impregnated. In the same manner all queen-cells 
are treated (all but one or two, which are left in the hive for the 
purpose of forming a separate colony) until all black hives are 
Italianised. Should, however, a hive be impregnated where it is 
supposed any black drones exist, it must be put on the stand of 
the black bees, so as to have only pure Italian drones on the 
Italian breeding-stand. In three weeks, with only little practice, 
about fifty hives can be Italianised. When done, and all the 
bees are provided with queens of Italian origin, then the work 
is much easier, as meanwhile, the young mothers lay Italian 
drone-eggs, and the black drones die, or, the Italian drones obtain 
such preponderance, that a genuine impregnation is in most cases 
certain. For breeding, always choose tire finest mother, if possible, 
of yellow colour, having previously convinced yourself that she 
has been impregnated genuinely—that is, by an Italian drone, 
and that she breeds, a9 a proof, handsome yellow working bees.” 
[These directions are practical and good.] 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Common Pig icons [Jol ).—Write to Mr. Baily, 113, Mount Street, Gros- 
venor Square, London, W. 
How to Make a Canary Sing? —An Inexperienced Bird-keeper is 
scarcely explicit enough in her inquiry. Singing may be regarded as the 
outpouring of the bird’s happiness. A bird may not sing from several causes; 
it may never have heard another and so not have learnt; it may be a 
hen and cannot sing ; or it may be overfed, or ill, and not in a humour for 
singing. If it has never learnt, put it within hearing of another for a few 
days. If overfed, or ill, restore its health by plain food, cleanliness, and 
fresh air. Do not give it either hemp, rape-seed, or sugar; let the bird 
enjoy a bath twice or three times a-week. See that the cage is clean and 
free from mites or insects, and do not hang it in too close or vitiated an 
atmosphere.—B. P. B. 
Iron Pigeon-houses f.S'. .7". AT.), — I have no experience of them, but 
shoulif think that the condensation of the breath and damp arising from 
the dung would not be sufficient to cause an injurious effect, if proper 
ventilation were introduced. Yet, I think, iron would be improper for the 
bottom of the nests, as from its rapidly drawing off the heat, it would be 
liable to cool the eggs or kill the young.—B. P. B. 
Ligurian Bees (A Hampshire Bee-keeper ).—We shall be very much 
obliged by your reporting your future progress with the whole hive of 
bees sent by M. Hermann. We are right glad to hear that they arrived 
in good order and are doing well. We would take a journey to see the 
bees at work, if we knew where they are; and we should also like to know 
what the bees cost, and what was paid for their carriage. 
