OVER-STOCKING. 
303 
berg, even if the old-fashioned plan of management was 
adhered to. The following interesting statements have 
been furnished to me by Mr. Wagner : 
“ 1 When a large flock of sheep,’ says Oeltl, ‘ is grazing on a 
limited area, there may soon be a deficiency of pasturage. But 
this cannot be asserted of bees, as a good honey-district cannot 
readily be overstocked with them. To-day, when the air is 
moist and warm, the plants may yield a superabundance of 
nectar ; while to-morrow, being cold and wet, there may be a 
total want of it. When there is sufficient heat and moisture, the 
saccharine juices of plants will readily fill the nectaries, and will 
be quickly replenished when carried off by the bees. Every cold 
night checks the flow of honey, and every clear, warm day re- 
opens the fountain. The flowers expanded to-day 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. 
Hence, bees cannot, as many suppose, collect to-morrow what is 
left ungathered to-day, as sheep may graze hereafter on the pas- 
turage they do not need now. Strong colonies and largo 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.’ 
“ The same able Apiarian, whose golden rule in bee-keeping is, 
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 which 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 colonies could not even gather 
enough to keep them from starvation. 
“Mr. A. Braun states, in the Bienenzeilung , September, 1854, 
that he has a mammoth hive furnished with combs containing at 
least 184,230 cells,* and placed on a platform scale, that its weight 
* Such a lilvo would hold about three bushels. Wildmnn says that “a clergy- 
