102 



AUSTRALASIAN 



through the breeding season, and if they have to go a distance 

 to procure it so much labour will be unprofitably expended. 

 A shallow stream affords about the best drinking place ; if 

 the only water near the apiary happens to be deep and not 

 accessible by means of flat sloping edges, some contrivances of 

 wicker work, or thin boards with a number of holes bored in 

 them, should be provided to float on the surface and enable the 

 bees to rest on them and sip up the water without risk of being 

 drowned. In the absence of any natural source it would be 

 advisable to supply the water artificially in shallow troughs 

 placed near at hand, under the shade of a tree or hedge. For 

 two or three hives an arrangement like that shown in Fig. 34 

 will be found to answer very well. The neck of a glass bottle 



WATER-BOTTLE. 



is let down a short distance into a hole in a block of wood, on 

 the upper surface of which are cut shallow grooves from the 

 centre to the outer edges. 



The bottle is filled with water and turned bottom upwards,, 

 with its neck in the central hole in the block. The atmos- 

 pheric pressure prevents the water from running out faster 

 than it is taken away or evaporated from the surface of the 

 block. 



