Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1914 — BEE AND BEE KEEPING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEE AND BEE KEEPING

PROVIDE WATER FOB BEES. If Natural Supply Not Convenient Place Pans Near the Hive. Every well-informed beekeeper knows that bees need water. Has he not seen them at the watering-trough or at the brookside, thickly dotting the water’s edge as they sip the refreshing liqdfdT Every wise beekeeper will see to It that water is in close proximity to his apiary, and will so arrange that the bees may quaff to their fill, with no danger of loss of life. In case there is no natural supply, pans of water with chip* placed In them or other provision for their safety, should be near the hives, says a writer in the Americas Bee Journal. We have all noticed that we may. eat a very full meal, and then drink a full glass of water with no essential disturbance. A very little more solid food or a glass of milk would bring no little uneasiness. This fact is easily explained. The water is almost at once absorbed from the stomach into the blood while the solid food or milk must first be digested, and then will be absorbed. Osmosis—the technical term for absorption—is always more rapid under pressure. We can see then, that with a full stomach we have just the conditions for very rapid absorption. We might reason from this fact of the rapid absorption of water, that it would take place in the case of the bee.

We have another proof of the rapidity of absorption in our own case when we drink at a time of great thirst. Of course the thirst will not be quenched until the water quickly after we drink the refreshing beverage has the thirst entirely disappeared. We see the same thing in watering our horses. When they are thirsty, if we let them drink to their fill, they will overdrink, often greatly to their hurt. If, on the other hand, we give them a pail of water and wait only a very few minutes, we find they drink no more; the water had passed to their blood and their thirst was satisfied.

In case of the bees, we have another reason for believing that this water is used at once. We never find it stored in the hive. True, it may be that the bees carry this to the hive and at onee give it to the other bees, but in this case I suppose it is used at once by the nurse-bees and is never stored. Is it not probable, then, that the water is taken just as we take it when we are sure that we can get it whenever needed, only as the bees need it, and that as in our own case, it Is at once absorbed and used?

It is well known that a goodly proportion of the body, even the most solid portion, Is water, while In the blood and secretions, the water forms a much greater part. Circulation, of course, depends largely upon a good supply of water, but circulation Is all Important, If the body Is to be kept in normal condition. We can understand, then, how water Is so necessary a part of our food, and how health, no less than comfort, demand a sufficiency at all times. We can also understand why thirst Is so terribly disturbing, and how the one, famished for want of water, suffers so terribly from the want. This should make us all the more careful that our bees and all our large domestic animals should have an everwaiting supply of this life-giving aliment.