OVER-STOCKING. 303 



berg, even if the old-fashioned plan of management was 

 adhered to. The following interesting statements have 

 been furnished to me by Mr. Wagner : 



" < 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 sufficient 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 re- 

 opens the fountain. The flowers expanded to-day must be visited 

 while open ; for, if left to wither, their stores are lost. The same 

 remarks will apply substantially in the case of honey-dews. 

 Hence, bees cannot, as many suppose, collect to-morrow what is 

 left ungathered to-day, as sheep may graze hereafter on the pas- 

 turage they do not need now. Strong colonies and large Apiaries 

 are in a position to collect ample stores when forage suddenly 

 abounds, while, by patient, persevering industry, they may still 

 gather a sufficiency, and even a surplus, when the supply is small, 

 but more regular and protracted.' 



" The same able Apiarian, whose golden rule in bee-keeping is, 

 to keep none but strong colonies, says that, in the lapse of twenty 

 years since he established his Apiary, there has not occurred a 

 season in which the bees did not procure adequate supplies for 

 themselves, and a surplus besides. Sometimes, indeed, he came 

 near despairing, when April, May, and June were continually 

 cold, wet, and unproductive ; but in July, his strong colonies 

 speedily filled their garners, and stored up some treasure for him ; 

 while, in such seasons, small colonies could not even gather 

 enough to keep them from starvation. 



"Mr. A. Braun states, in the Bienenzeitung, September, 1854, 

 that he has a mammoth hive furnished with combs containing at 

 least 184,230 cells,* and placed on a platform scale, that its weight 



* Such a hive would hold about three bushels. Wildman gays that " a clergy- 



