These are unquestionably the best methods to divide, and so I will not complicate the subject by detailing others. The only objection that can be urged against them, and even this does not apply to the last, is that we must seek out the queen in each hive, or at least be sure that we do not remove her, though this is by no means so tedious if we have Italians, as of course we all will. I might give other methods which would render unnecessary this caution, but they are to my mind inferior, and not to be recommended. If we proceed as above described, the bees will seldom prepare to swarm at all, and if they do they will be discovered in the act, by such frequent examinations, and the work may be cut short by at once dividing such colonies as first explained, and destroying their queen-cells, or, if desired, using them for forming new nuclei. CHAPTER XI. ITALIANS AND ITALIANIZING. The history and description of Italians (see Frontis-plate) have already been considered (p. 41), so it only remains to discuss the subject in a practical light. The superiority of the Italians seems at present a mooted question. A few among the able apiarists in our country take the ground that a thorough balancing of qualities will make as favorable a showing for the German, as for the Italian bees. I think, too, that the late Baron of Berlepsch held to the same view. I think I am capable of acting as judge on this subject. I have never sold a half-dozen queens in my life, and so have not been unconsciously influenced by self-interest. In fact, I have never had, if I except two years, any direct interest in bees at all, and all my work and experiments had only the promotion and spread of truth as the ultimatum.