OVEESTOCKING. 359 



The Fifteenth Annual Meeting of German Agriculturists 

 was held in the City of Hanover, on the lOlh of September, 

 1852, and in compliance with the suggestions of the Apia- 

 rian Convention, a distinct section devoted to bee-culture 

 was instituted. The programme propounded sixteen ques- 

 tions for discussion, the fourth of which was as follows: — 



" Can a district of country embraeing meadows, arable 

 land, orchards, and woodlands or 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 Eev. Mr. Kleine, (nine-tenths of the correspondents of 

 the Bee-Journal are clergyman,) President of the section, 

 gave it as his opinion that " it was hardly conceivable that 

 such a country could be overstocked with bees." Counsel- 

 lor Herwig, and the Rev. Mr. Wilkens, on the contrary, 

 maintained that " it might be overstocked." In reply. As- 

 sessor 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 ap- 

 prehended that too many Apiaries would ever be establish- 

 ed ; and that consequently the greatest possible multiplica- 

 tion 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 af Apiaries in various 

 parts of Germany, containing from 25 to 500 colonies. But 

 the question would still recur, do not these Apiaries occupy 

 comparatively isolated positions .'' and at this distance frotn 

 the scene, it would obviously be impossible to give a per- 

 fectly satisfactory answer. 



According to the statistical tables of the kingdom of Han- 

 nover, the annual production of bees-wax in the province of 



