OVERSTOCKING. 421 



or no value, even if it is in "a land flowing with milk and 

 honey," and there is not another colony within a dozen miles 

 of it. 



As the great Napoleon gained many of his victories by 

 having an overwhelming force at the right place, in the right 

 time, so the bee-keeper must have strong colonies, when num- 

 bers can be turned to the best account. If they become 

 strong only when they can do nothing but consume what 

 little honey has been previously gathered, he is like a farmer 

 who suffers his crops to rot on the ground, and then hires a 

 set of idlers to eat him out of house and home. 



708. Although bees can fly, in search of food, over three 

 miles, still, if it is not within a circle of about two miles in 

 every direction from the apiary, they will be able to store but 

 little surplus honey." If pasturage abounds within a quar- 

 ter of a mile from their hives, so much the better; there is 

 no great advantage, however, in having it close to them, 

 unless there is a great supply, as bees, when they leave the 

 hive, seldom alight upon the neighboring flowers.^ The instinct 

 to fly some distance seems to have been given them to pre- 

 vent them from wasting their time in prying into flowers 

 already despoiled of their sweets by previous gatherers. 



Bees will go farthest in a direction where no obstacles 

 exist, such as hills, woods or large areas of unproductive land. 

 If the blossoms from which. they gather honey extend out in 

 a continuous stretch in one direction, they may travel five 

 miles away or perhaps farther when the wind brings to them 

 the smell of flowers. But the fact that apiaries only four 

 miles apart give different yields under the same management 

 shows that the opportunities differ even at that short distance. 



"Mr. Kaden, of Mayence, thinks that the range of the bee's 

 flight does not usually extend more than three miles in all 

 directions. Several years ago, a vessel, laden with sugar, 



* "Judging from the sweep that bees take from the side of a railroad 

 train in motion, we should estimate their pace at about thirty miles an 

 hour. This would give them four minutes to reach the extremity oJ 

 their common range." — London Quarterly Review. 



