CHAPTEE XXII. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



THE question of overstocking a country with bees 

 is a very important one to all who are interested in 

 bee-keeping. What is wanted to be known, is the 

 number of hives that may be kept with the greatest 

 profit to their owner, in any particular district. As 

 the amount of pasturage afforded differs in each, there 

 can be no fixed number named. 



Mr. Langstroth says : " There is probably not a 

 square mile in this whole country which is overstocked 

 with bees, unless it is so unsuitable for bee-keeping 

 as to make it unprofitable to keep them at all." His 

 assertion will hold good wherever natural swarming 

 is depended on as the means of increase. Nature 

 has provided effectual guards to insure the continu- 

 ance of each particular race of created things. Hence, 

 the bee is endowed Vith the propensity of acquisi- 

 tiveness to such a degree, that if not sufficiently grati- 

 fied by Fiord's bounty, it is turned to the destruction 

 of its weaker neighbors whose stores, though small, 

 are borne away in triumph. Thus the tendency to 

 over-population is constantly held in check. *We 

 14* 



