56

54 CHAPMAN'S HANDY-BOOK.

well, if their natural supply is far off, to set pans of water
near the hives, filled to the level of the water with stones
or moss, lest the bees should fall in when they alight to
drink. A very convenient means of supplying them is to
have a small wooden trough, with a piece of wood floating
on the top of the water, not getting light, but so that it
will always sink to the water level; the bees will perch on
this board, and drink their fill from between it and the
sides of the trough. I was lead to think that bees are
fond of salt water, and I placed near my apiary one trough
of fresh and one of salt water: for one bee that went to
the fresh water there were twenty at the salt lick. But
they seem to be very capricious in their tastes.

Bees' Enemies.

These to the poor bee are common both to England and
New Zealand. With them the bees, and the bee master,
have to fight in both lands. The most deadly are the
spiders. But there is another foe peculiar to New Zealand.
of a very nasty nature: I mean that stinking beetle, whose
real name is KEKERERU. When a hive dwindles away to
nothing, and the bee master turns it up to see what is the
cause and extent of the damage, he will often find a number
of these black rascals in possession of the empty combs.
If you find them, take the law into your own hands. Fowls
should be kept away from the apiary; they are very
destructive. The large species of dragon flies catch a
great many. There are many of the New Zealand birds
which, I doubt not, seize the bees in their flight. The
KORIMOKO I have taken in the fact; and I strongly suspect
the TUI, and other honey eating birds.

The Bees' Sting.

A bee sting is the same all over the world: the pain is
sharp for a minute or two; and it is not pleasant to have
an eye entirely closed, or a nose twice as large as nature
intended it. As the sting of the bee is the same here as
it was in England, I can have nothing new to say on the
subject. I do not think, however, that the bees are near