FARMER'S MANUAL. 17 1 



hive, to exclude both air and light, and with this, 

 they attach their cells to the surface of the hive. 

 Propolis is a resinous substance, soluble in spirits 

 of wine, and oil of turpentine; in this state, it is an 

 excellent substitute for the varnish which is used in 

 giving the colour of gold to silver, or to tin, made 

 into tinfoil. It is very useful to expedite the matu- 

 rity of abscesses; its vapour, when in a consuming 

 state, gives great relief to coughs, if inhaled into the 

 lungs. Crude wax, or bee-bread, is the next sub- 

 stance worthy of notice ; this is the farina of plants, 

 collected by the Bees, for the various purposes of 

 the hive, and constitutes one of the elements of wax* 

 Farina, also, forms the chief element of propolis, by a 

 process which it passes through in the stomach of the 

 Bees ; yet propolis is not wax, although very similar, 

 because propolis is much more glutinous and fra- 

 grant than wax. Propolis has been analyzed by 

 M. Vauquelin in the Anals De Chimie, 1802, and 

 1818, and in the Bulletin de Pharmacie, by M. Ca- 

 det. By distilation, a very sweet essential oil is ob- 

 tained ; if it be placed on burning coals, it emits an 

 odour similar to that of aloes ; it mollifies, and in 

 this state, it cannot be broken until it is stretched to 

 the fineness of a thread. M. Lombard says, *' That 

 a perfect ignorance prevails, regarding the matter of 

 which propolis is made, or whence the Bees extract 

 it." 



CHAP, XII. 



On Pollen, or Farina. 



Botanists designate by the term pollen, or farina, 

 that fecundating dust which hangs on the stamina of 

 all flowers, and which the Bees collect and transport, 

 to their hives, in little balls, or pellets, attached to 



