HONEY. 235 



table than their corn. This is a number however 

 which I should think would overstock most dis- 

 tricts, and which could only be supported naturally 

 by having recourse to transportation. This seems 

 to be evinced by the inhabitants of Egypt, France, 

 Savoy, Piedmont and other places availing them- 

 selves of that practice, as already stated. 



The most productive parts of this kingdom, in 

 all probability, are the borders of Cambridgeshire, 

 Hertfordshire, and part of Hampshire, which 

 abounding in heaths, commons and woods, afford 

 so much pabulum for bees, as to enable some of 

 the farmers to have from 100 to 150 stocks of 

 them, the largest number that I have ever heard 

 of in this kingdom. 



On the subject of overstocking) Mr. Espinasse 

 says that few parts of England which he has 

 visited afford flowers in sufficient profusion and 

 of sufficient variety to support numerous colonies. 

 " In the village," says he, "where my house is 

 situated, many persons, induced by my example, 

 procured bees ; they were too numerous for what 

 was to feed them ; more than one half of them 

 died in the ensuing winter, and nearly one third 

 of my own were with difficulty saved by feeding." 

 The proprietor of bees may know whether or 

 not his situation is overstocked, if he will attend 

 to the produce of his apiary for several years 

 together. 



