OVERSTOCKING. 357 



aimed to have an overwhelming force, at the right time and 

 in the right place ; so the bee-keeper must be sure that his 

 colonies are numerous, just at the time when their numbers 

 can be turned to the best account. If the bees cannot get 

 up their numbers until the honey-harvest is well nigh gone, 

 numbers will then be of as little service as many of the 

 famous armies against which " the soldier of Europe" con- 

 tended ; which, after the fortunes of the campaign were 

 decided, only served to swell the triumphant spoils of the 

 mighty conqueror. A bee-keeper with feeble stocks in the 

 Spring, which become strong only when there is nothing to 

 get, is like a farmer who contrives to hire no hands to reap 

 his harvests, but suffers the crops to rot upon the ground, 

 and then at great expense, hires a number of slalworth la- 

 borers to idle about his premises and eat him out of house 

 and home ! 



I do not -believe that there is a single square mile in this 

 whole country, which is overstocked with bees, unless it is one 

 so unsuitable for bee-keeping as to make it unprofitable to 

 attempt it at all. Such an assertion will doubtless, appear to 

 many, very unguarded ; and yet it is made advisedly, and I 

 am happy to be able to confirm it, by reference to the expe- 

 rience of the largest cultivators in Europe. The following 

 letter from Mr. Wagner, will I trust, do more than I can 

 possibly do in any other way, to show our bee-keepers how 

 mistaken they are in their opinion as to the danger of over- 

 stocking their districts, and also what large results might be 

 obtained from a more extensive cultivation of bees. 



York, March 16, 1853. 

 Dear Sir : 



In reply to your enquiry respecting the overstocking 

 of a district, I would say that the present opinion of the 

 correspondents of the Bienenzeitung, appears to be that it 



