CHAPTER Xry. 
OVERSTOCKING. 
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CAN a district of country be overstocked with Bees? This is possi- 
ble; yet it is a thing which is rarely, if ever done. Gross mistakes 
are often made in the decision of this question. Very few Bees, it is 
supposed by many, can be supported, or find pasturage in a given 
section of country. If ten or twenty swarms are kept in a particular 
neighborhood, it is supposed to be inexpedient to keep more, lest there 
should be a scarcity of honey for them. Light willbe thrown upon this 
question, if we turn our attention to certain districts of country in which 
they are kept and successfully cultivated in much greater numbers. In 
our own country, the question has never been tested by actual experi- © 
ment. In certain locations, Bees are keptin considerable numbers, but 
not to the extent of overstocking the country. The Shakers, at Lebanon, 
keep about six hundred colonies. ‘There are quite a number of Bee- 
keepers in different sections of the country, who keep from seventy-five to 
one hundred colonies, without producing a famine among them. I might 
produce a great mass of evidence bearing on the question, all going to 
show that we are in very little danger of overstocking the country ; and 
it is my settled conviction, that if we were to multiply the present num- 
ber of colonies in the country by one hundred, we should then be far 
from reaching the extent to which Bees might be kept, and they still be 
furnished with abundant pasturage. At any one point where Bees are 
now found, one hundred colonies might be kept with perfect safety. 
In Germany, Bees are kept in much greater numbers than -in this 
country, and yet it is'the universal testimony of German writers, that the 
country is not overstocked, and most of them do not believe such a 
thing is possible. One writer says: “I have numerous accounts of 
apiaries in pretty close proximity, containing from two hundred to five 
hundred colonies each. Ehrenfels had one thousand hives, at three 
separate establishments, indeed, but so close to each other, that he 
— could visit them ail in half an hour’s ride.” He adds, ‘in Russia and 
Hungary, apiaries numbering from two thousand to five thousand 
colonies are said not to be unfrequent, and we know that as many as 
