PROPER POSITIONS FOR AN APIARY. 427 



character. The better practice is, to keep rather too few 

 than too many ; and it will be found, on experiment, that 

 ten hives in certain situations will generally yield as much 

 as twenty. It was, it is true, the opinion of M. La Grenee, 

 whose character stands high in the rank of apiarians, that 

 any given district can maintain an unlimited number of 

 hives, but neither experience nor reason will bear him out 

 in his hypothesis. It must be granted, that every district, 

 however rich and abundant it may be in the flowers from 

 which the bees collect their provisions, still has its limits 

 of supply ; and consequently, if a certain number of hives 

 be kept in a district which can consume that supply, and 

 which is not greater than they require, any further ad- 

 dition to the number of hives must be attended with the 

 greatest injury. 



We will now mention those positions which are most pro- 

 per and advantageous for the culture of the bee, and they 

 may be divided into three ; the first middling, the second 

 good, and the third excellent. These three positions may 

 be distinguished as yielding three different productions. 



The corn-fields, the meadows, with little rivulets, are 

 what may be denominated the middling position. 



The proximity of woods — abundance of meadow and 

 arable ground, extensive commons and rivulets, form the 

 good position. 



The vicinity of meadows of heath, woods, great commons 

 and hills covered with odoriferous herbs, removed from 

 lakes and rivers of great extent, may be denominated the 

 excellent position : the latter will produce four times as 

 much as the first, and will double the second. Although 

 these positions may be considered as the best, there are 

 nevertheless other places where hives might be placed to 

 advantage, but not in that number which might be wished. 

 The quality of the country in which a person fixes his apiary 

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