THE INDUSTRIES OF THE HIVE 61 



protect their buds in winter by resinous coats; and 

 it was quite like the adaptable bee to find use for this 

 resin in her own domicile. 



The elder Huber, whose observations of a century 

 ago have been verified, discovered the source of 

 propolis; he planted poplars in pots and placed 

 them near the hives, and the bees were seen in the 

 act of collecting the resin from the buds. They 

 have been observed by others, working on the buds 

 of the horse-chestnut, birch, willow, alder, and even 

 the balsam fir. However, the bees have no preju- 

 dices in favour of any kind of resin, anything will 

 do so long as it answers the purpose; hence they visit 

 shops where furniture is being finished and appro- 

 priate the varnish without saying "please." And 

 Darwin mentions the fact that bees collected a cement 

 of wax and turpentine, used to cover trees from which 

 the bark has been removed. If any old hives or 

 fixtures with propolis on them be left around the 

 apiary, the bees make all haste to save every particle 

 of the precious stuff. 



One of the oldest superstitions about bees is that 

 they will gather on the coffin of their dead master; 

 and authenticated instances of the kind are on record. 

 But this beautiful tradition is made empty of senti- 

 ment by the assertion that the bees assemble there 

 not to mourn their dead master, but to gather the 

 varnish from the coffin. Some iconoclasts ascribe 

 to this the origin of "telling the bees" when some 

 member of the family dies; but we believe this 

 beautiful custom originated before varnished coffins 



