"At liquidi fontes et stagna virentia musco
Adsint, et tenuis fugiens per gramina rivus."
Georg. l. iv.
If there is no small stream or fountain near them, they should be supplied by troughs, filled with moss, and then water poured on it, until they are as full as they can hold. The working bees come in swarms to them in the spring, and quench their thirst without risk.
3d, It is commonly believed that an apiary is not well situated unless it stands in the sun. This is an error; bees like the shade when working, and like the sun only when in the fields, which then animates and sustains them. For this reason, when people wish a swarm to settle, after it has left the hive, they hasten to cover it; because the shade induces them to rest, while a hot sun annoys them, and inclines them to take flight again. When we wish to disperse a cluster of bees off the front of a hive, we have only to expose it to the rays of the sun in the heat of the day. The bees then retreat under the hive, on the side, or behind it. They thrive well in thick forests, and delight in them; because there they find a uniform temperature and a propitious shade. How often, during the dog-days, have we not seen the honey running down, and the combs melting, in those hives exposed to the heat of the sun. In one hour, sometimes, a whole apiary will be destroyed. It is also a mistake to suppose hives exposed to the sun produce the earliest and strongest swarms. I have oftener than once experienced the reverse. My earliest swarms have generally come from the best shaded hives, and which only receive the sun late. I have even lost some in such situations, because they took flight sooner than we thought of watching them. We need never fear to shade a hive since Virgil recommends it[3]. If the roof does not project sufficiently to protect the hive from the sun in the heat of the day, I would advise them to be shaded with deals or pieces of matting.
"Palmaque vestibulum aut ingens oleaster obumbret."
Georg. iv.
4th, The most favourable exposure is towards where the sun is from ten o'clock till mid-day. They should never be turned to the east or west, but, more especially to the north, where the cold and tempestuous winds would greatly injure them.