OVERSTOCKING. 303 



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 they can do nothing but eat up the little honey that 

 has been previously gathered, is like a farmer who, after 

 suffering his crops to rot upon the ground, hires, at great 

 expense, a number of stalworth laborers, 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 may seem very un- 

 guarded ; but I am happy to be able to cofirm it, by refer- 

 ence to the experience of the largest cultivators in Europe. 

 The following letter from Mr. Wagner, I trust will show our 

 bee-keepers, how mistaken ihey are in their opinions on this 

 subject, 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 

 cannot readily he done. Dzierzon says, in practice at least, 

 "if never is done;''"' and Dr. Eadlkofer, of Munich, the 

 President of the second Apiarian Convention, declares that 

 his apprehensions on that score were dissipated by observa- 

 tions which he had opportunity and occasion to make, when 

 on his way home from the Convention. I have numerous 

 accounts of Apiaries in pretty close proximity, containing 

 from 200 to 300 colonies each. Ehrenfels had a thousand 



