OVEK-STOCKING. 301 



to lay up an ample supply for the year, if its labor be properly 

 directed. 



" Mr. Kaden, one of the oldest contributors to the Bienenzeitung, 

 in the number for December, 1852, noticing the communication 

 from Dr. Radlkofer, says : ' I also concur in the opinion that a 

 district of country cannot be overstocked with bees, and that, how- 

 ever numerous the colonies, all can procure sufficient sustenance, 

 if the surrounding country contain honey-yielding plants and 

 vegetables, in the usual degree. Where utter barrenness prevails, 

 the case is different, of course, as well as rare.' 



" The Fifteenth Annual Meeting of German Agriculturists was 

 held in the city of Hanover, on the 10th of September, 1852, and 

 in compliance with the suggestions of the Apiarian Convention, 

 a distinct section devoted to bee-culture was instituted. The pro- 

 gramme propounded sixteen questions for discussion, the fourth 

 of which was as follows : 



" ' Can a district of country embracing meadows, arable land, 

 orchards, and forests, be so overstocked with bees, that these may 

 no longer find adequate sustenance, and yield a remunerating 

 surplus of their products ?' 



" This question was debated with considerable animation. The 

 Rev. Mr. Kleine nine-tenths of the correspondents of the Bee- 

 Journal are Clergymen president of the section, gave it as his 

 opinion that ' it was hardly conceivable that such a country could 

 be overstocked with bees.' Counsellor Herwig, and the Rev. Mr. 

 Wilkens, on the contrary, maintained that 'it might be over- 

 stocked.' In reply, Assessor Heyne remarked that, 'whatever 

 might be supposed possible, as an extreme case, it was certain 

 that, as regards the kingdom of Hanover, it could not be even 

 remotely apprehended that too many Apiaries would ever be 

 established ; and that, consequently, the greatest possible multi- 

 plication of colonies might safely be aimed at and encouraged. 

 At the same time, he advised a proper distribution of Apiaries.' 



" I might easily furnish you with more matter of this sort, and 

 designate a considerable number of Apiaries in various parts of 

 Germany, containing from twenty-five to five hundred colonies. 

 But the question would still recur, do not these Apiaries occupy 



