90 MINERS AMBEICAN 



Even the wells of the neighborhood frequently afford all 

 the water that is required, from the drippings of the 

 bucket, or from the troughs that often stand beside 

 them. 



I have often seen bees around my own well, in great 

 numbers, extracting the moisture from the outside of the 

 bucket, or arranged along the gently-sloping sides of a 

 trough, that I had placed there expressly for them. Bees 

 do not like to descend the vertical sides of a bucket, or 

 of any other vessel to obtain water ; because there is 

 danger of falling in ; but a sloping, shallow trough, the 

 sides of which form an angle of from 30 to 45 degrees 

 with the horizon, suits them much better. 



HOW FURNISHED TO BEES. 



Every bee-keeper should either afford his bees a sup- 

 ply of water at his pump, or well, or place a shallow 

 vessel near the apiary, filled with small stones about 

 the size of a pigeon's egg, in order to give a resting 

 place for the bees, and the vessel then to be filled with 

 fresh water every morning, unless there be a stream of 

 fresh water near, in which case, both modes might be 

 dispensed with. A tin baking pan, about an inch or 

 more deep, is very suitable. Should no stones be put 

 into the pan, many bees would be drowned. I have even 

 known many to be drowned, in cool spring weather, when 

 the stones in the pan were so large, as to admit of spaces 

 or surfaces of water only two inches across ! One 

 would suppose that so small a space as this, would be 

 overcome by the bees at once ; and when losing a foot- 



