OVERSTOCKING. 423 



reopens the fountains. The flowers expanded todaj' must be 

 visited while open; for, if left to wither, their stores are lost. 

 The same remarks will apply substantially in the case of 

 honey-dews. Henee, bees cannot, as many suppose, collect to- 

 morrow what is left ungathered to-day, as sheep may graze 

 hereafter on the pasturage they do not need now. Strong col- 

 onies and large apiaries are in a position to collect ample stores 

 when forage suddenly abounds, while, by patient, persevering 

 industry, they may still gather a sufficiency, and even a surplus, 

 when the supply is small, but more regular and protracted. ' ' 



Although we believe that a district can be overstocked, so 

 as to make bee-culture unprofitable, yet the above extract 

 gives a correct view of the honey harvest, which depends 

 much on the weather, and must be gathered when produced. 



The same able Apiarist, whose golden rule in bee-keeping 

 was, to keep none but strong colonies, says that in the lapse 

 of twenty years since he established his apiary, there has not 

 occurred a season in wliich the bees did not procure adequate 

 supplies for themselves, and a surplus besides. Sometimes, 

 indeed, he came near despairing, when April, May, and June 

 were continually cold, wet, and unproductive; but in July, 

 his strong colonies speedily filled their garners, and stored 

 up some treasure for him; while, in such seasons, small colo- 

 nies could not even gather enough to keep them from starva- 

 tion. 



In countries where the entire area of the farmmg land is 

 devoted to honey-producing plants,— as in the irrigated plains 

 of Colorado, where the only crop is alfalfa and thousands 

 of acres of this plant are to be seen in a body.— the over- 

 stocking of land with bees is almost an impossibility. Ex- 

 amples of this kind are to be found in California, with a 

 natural honey plant, the sage, which covers the uncultivated 

 hillsides. In New York State, buckwheat is raised in such 

 large areas that as many as seven hundred colonies are kept 

 in one apiary. We will name that of Mr. E. W. Alexander 

 of Delanson, N. Y., the description of whose methods 

 attracted much attention in "Gleanings in Bee Culture" at the 



