w. 



WATER FOB. BEES. That bees 

 need water lias been i)retty well demonstrat- 

 ed; but the best means of supplying them is 

 not very satisfactorily settled. The amount 

 of water required depends largely on rearing 

 brood in considerableqiiantities, and whether 

 their food is old, thick (possibly candied) hon- 

 ey, or new honey right from the fields. The 

 latter contains usually a large quantity of 

 water that must be expelled before the honey 

 can be ripened. See IIonky; also Venti- 

 LATiox. While the bees are gathering this 

 thin, raw nectar, as a matter of course they 

 want less water, if any at all, besides what 

 the honey alfords them. This new honey is 

 frequently so thin that it runs like sweetened 

 water out of the combs when they are turned 

 horizontally, and tastes like it. The excess 

 of moisture is probably— for we do not have 

 positive proof on the matter— expelled by the 

 strong currents of air the bees keep circulat- 

 ing through the hive to take up watery par- 

 ticles and speedily reduce the honey to such 

 a consistency that it will not sour. If you 

 examine a hive very early in the morning 

 during the height of the honey season you 

 will find the blast of air that comes out, 

 quite heavily charged with moisture; and 

 when the weather is a little cool, this mois- 

 ture often condenses and accumulates on the 

 alighting board until it forms a little pool of 

 water. Where the alighting-board was of 

 the right shape to retain water, we have seen 

 it so deep as to drown bees passing out. 

 These bees, it would seem, at least were in 

 no need of water. 



Admitting that bees need water at other 

 times, how shall we give it y If there is a 

 creek or a pond within a few rods of the apia- 

 ry do not fuss to make any watering-place, 

 as, nine times out of ten, bees will ignore 

 what we prepare for them. liut where there 

 is no water-trough, creek, or pond within 

 easy reach it may be well to give the bees 

 two or three watering-places in or near the 

 apiaiy. The best arrangement is a grooved 

 board having an inverted glass or stone jar 

 on it, as seen in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion. The water will run down and fill the 

 grooves as fast as the bees remove it, on the 

 atmospheric principle; but as it is difficult 

 to make such a board, one can, in lieu of it. 



use a dinner or pie jilate. Fill the jar full of 

 water: lay across its mouth two strips of 

 wood i inch thick and + inch wide. On top 

 of this set the plate, ujiside down. Place the 

 right hand on the bottom of the plate, then 

 with the left hand grasp the jar. Now in- 



WAIEIMNG-JAK AND BOARD, OR OPEN-AIR 

 FEEDER. 



vert the whole thing. The water will bubble 

 out immediately till the plate has a depth of 

 watei- of about i inch, or whatever the thick- 

 ness of the sticks is. Set the device in a con- 

 venient spot near the apiary; and to prevent 

 the bees drowning lay little strips of wood in 

 the water. If previously salted a little, this 

 water serves as an additional attraction. 



Let it be distinctly understood as entirely 

 unnecessary to go to all this trouble, provid- 

 ing bees can get water in abundance from 

 some pump, creek, or pond, as mentioned. 

 If, however, there are neighbors who com- 

 plain aliout the bees congregating about 

 their pumps or troughs, it may be well to fix 

 up counter-attractions such as jars of water 

 slightly salted, to draw the bees away. In 

 addition to this, take a pail of water and 

 put into it a tablespoonful of commercial 

 carbolic acid. Stir it well, then spray or 

 spatter this water around the pump of your 

 neighbor who complains of your bees. As 

 explained under Robhing, bees seem to have 

 a great aversion to carbolic acid; and where 

 a solution of it is sprinkled they keep en- 

 tirely away. 



