OVERSTOCKING 
647 
on the other hand, the average is only 50 
lbs. of extracted honey, and there are only 
50 colonies in the apiary, then, clearly, 50 
would be all there could be kept with profit 
in that spot; and it could be questioned 
whether or not 35 might- not be just as 
profitable, and at the same time save a little 
in the investment and some labor in gath¬ 
ering and harvesting the crop. 
In some locations, notably Wyoming, 
Montana, Idaho, Utah, California, Colo¬ 
rado, Cuba, and in some portions of New 
York, one can have as many as 300 or 400 
colonies, and in some rare instances 500 
colonies in one apiary. The late E. W. 
Alexander of Delanson, N. Y., had some 
700 .colonies in one beeyard; but he had 
immense acreages of buckwheat and gold- 
enrod. The celebrated Sespe apiary in 
southern California, owned by Mrs. J. E. 
McIntyre, has, in one yard, 600 colonies 
of bees. The great mountains on either 
side, the fertile valley and the great abun¬ 
dance of honey flora make such a number 
possible. See Apiary ; also Out-apiaries. 
OVERSTOCKING AND PRIORITY RIGHTS. 
A new phase of overstocking has been 
developed within recent years, bringing up 
a rather difficult and serious problem. In 
good localities such as, for example, the 
irrigated regions of Colorado, the keeping 
of bees is much more profitable, or at least 
once was, than in some of the less favored 
localities in the central and northern 
States of the Union. It has come to pass 
that, in recent years, certain beekeepers, 
learning of the wonderful yields in Cali¬ 
fornia, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Wyom¬ 
ing, Montana, and Arizona, in the irrigated 
alfalfa regions, have started apiaries with¬ 
in less than a mile of some other beekeeper 
having 100 or 200 colonies in that locality. 
When the new comer establishes another 
apiary of 100 colonies, the place becomes 
overstocked, with the result that beekeeper 
No. 1 has his average per colony cut down 
very materially. There is only a certain 
amount of nectar in the field to be gath¬ 
ered; and if all the colonies get a propor¬ 
tionate share, then beekeeper No. 2 prac¬ 
tically robs beekeeper No. 1 of a large per¬ 
centage of honey that he would have ob¬ 
tained had not other bees been brought 
into the locality to divide the spoils. There 
is no law against such a procedure. The 
only protection that the original squat¬ 
ter has is the unwritten moral law that is 
observed among the better class of beekeep¬ 
ers, to the effect that no beekeeper should 
locate an apiary so close to another as to 
rob him of a certain amount of nectar in 
the field which is his by priority of loca¬ 
tion. In a good many localities, unfortu¬ 
nately this unwritten moral law is only 
loosely observed. Locations that once af¬ 
forded an average of 100 or 150 pounds 
per colony now afford only about 50 or 75 
pounds. 
For the other side, on this question of 
priority of rights it may be said that the 
first-comer beekeeper has in no sense 
leased, bought, or borrowed the land grow¬ 
ing the plants from which the nectar is 
secreted; that any and every one has a 
right to the product from the flowers,. 
Legally the second comer has just as much 
right to the field as his neighbor. 
No attempt will be made to define moral 
distinctions which may be involved in this 
question any more than to state that, if a 
beekeeper has, by luck, careful observation, 
or at great expense, discovered a locality 
that yields large amounts of honey, he 
ought to be left in the peaceful enjoyment 
and free possession of his discovery, to the 
extent that no one else should locate an 
apiary nearer than a mile and a half from 
any of his apiaries; and right here it 
would appear that the principle of the 
golden rule ought to be used to settle all 
such problems; for it is practically certain 
that beekeeper No. 2, who comes into an 
already occupied field to divide the profits, 
would not regard with very much favor 
such action on the part of another if he 
were in the position of the one having 
prior rights. 
In many localities there is a very strong 
sentiment on the part of local beekeepers 
established in good territory against new 
comers putting more bees into a place 
already overstocked. This sentiment is so 
pronounced and strong that the new man 
is often glad to sell out or move away of 
his own accord. Sometimes he is stubborn, 
and attempts to fight it out; but usually 
he is the loser in the end, because he does 
not know the locality as do the old-estab- 
