356 THE BEE keeper's MANDAL. 



space every way, and after they covered the ground, would 

 need no further attention. They would come into full blos- 

 som, cultivated in this manner, about the time that the white 

 clover begins to fail, and would not only furnish rich pas- 

 ture for the bees, but would keep them from the groceries 

 and shops in which so many perish. 



If those who are engaged in adorning our villages and 

 country residences with shade trees, would be careful to set 

 out a liberal allowance of such kinds as are not only beau- 

 tiful to us, but attractive to the bees, in process of time the 

 honey resources of the country might be very greatly in- 

 creased. 



Overstocking a -District with Bees. 



I come now to a point of the very first importance to all 

 interested in the cultivation of bees. If the opinions which 

 the great majority of American bee-keepers entertain, are 

 correct, then the keeping of bees must, in our country, be 

 always an insignificant pursuit. I confess that I find it diffi- 

 cult to repress a smile, wKen the owner of a few hives, in a 

 district where as many hundreds might be made to prosper, 

 gravely imputes his ill success, to the fact that too many 

 bees are kept in his vicinity ! The truth is, that as bees are 

 frequently managed, they are of but little value, even 

 though in " a land flowing with milk and honey." If in 

 the Spring, a colony of bees is prosperous and healthy, (see 

 p. 207) it will gather abundant stores, even if hundreds 

 equally strong, are in its immediate vicinity, while if it is 

 feeble, it will be of little or no value, even if there is 

 not another swarm within a dozen miles of it. 



Success in bee-keeping requires that a man should be in 

 some things, a very close imitator of Napoleon, who always 



