Allen wrote:

>* The bees must be of a sort that will start cells
>  readily and maintain them

and

>* There must be lots of young bees

Allen's points are all excellent, but the two cited were a turning point for
me.  Early on, under good conditions, trying to get some nucs and splits of
what turned out to be good bees to thrive was so discouraging I almost
despaired of succeeding with bees.  Later this operation became easy despite
worse conditions.  The difference was some prolific bees so poor at making
honey that I almost requeened them before realizing their value as nurses.
They cling so tenaciously to their brood that inspection is difficult.
Putting a frame with young larvae from desired stock in the midst of a few
frames of brood of such bees, eliminating their own queen cells, and doing
everything that Allen stated, makes nice queens.

Bill Morong