422 PASTURAGE AND OVERSTOCKING. 



anchored off Mayence, and was soon visited by the bees of the 

 neighborhood, which continued to pass to and from the vessel 

 from dawn to dark. One morning, when the bees were in full 

 flight, the vessel sailed up the river. For a short time, the 

 bees continued to fly as numerously as before; but gradually 

 the number diminished, and, in the course of half an Jiour, all 

 had ceased to follow the vessel, which had, meanwhile, sailed 

 more than four miles." — Bienenzeitung, 1854, p. 83. 



Our own experience corroborates the statements of Kaden. 

 We have known strong colonies of bees to starve upon the 

 hills in a year of drouth, while the Mississippi bottoms, less 

 than four miles distant, which had been overflowed during the 

 Spiing, were yielding a large crop. It is evident that dis- 

 tricts, where honey blossoms are scarce, can be much more 

 readily overstocked than those rich lands which are covered 

 with blossoms, the greater part of the Summer. A great 

 amount of land in cultivation^ is not always a hindrance to 

 honey production, for cultivated lands often grow weeds, 

 which yield an abundance of honey. Heartsease and Spanish 

 needle grow plentifully in cornfields and wheat stubble in 

 wet seasons. Pasture lands abound with white clover. 



709. It is impossible to give the exact number of colo- 

 nies that a country can support profitably. In poor locations, 

 a few hives will probably harvest all the honey to be found, 

 while some districts can support perhaps a hundred or more 

 to the square mile. The bee-keeper must be his own judge, as 

 to the honey capacity of his district. 



**When a large flock of sheep," says Oettl, "is grazing on a 

 limited area, there may soon be a deficiency of pasturage. But 

 this cannot be asserted of bees, as a good honey-district cannot 

 readily be overstocked with them. To-day, when the air is 

 moist and warm, the plants may yield a superabundance of 

 nectar; while to-morrow being cold and wet, there may be a 

 total want of it. When there is suflScient heat and moisture, the 

 saccharine juices of plants will readily fill the nectaries, and 

 will be quickly replenished when carried off by the bees. Every 

 cold night checks the flow of honey, and every clear, warm day 



