492 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



I he colon V will soon run out. Eye flour is a good substitute 

 for pollou. 



7. Propolis is a substance gathered from trees, with which 

 ihe bee stops the cracks, fills the corners, and varnishes the 

 interior surface of the hive. It is also used with wax in fa.s- 

 toning up the comb, and sometimes in varnishing the comb. 



8. Wax is a secretion from which the bees make their comb. 

 It is more valuable than honey, for it requires at least twelve 

 pounds of honey to produce one of wax. Good bee comb 

 should therefore never be destroyed when it can be avoided. 

 Just the amount of time and honey required to build the comb 

 is saved by furnishing each swarm with comb. 



9. There are two kinds of comb, bi'ood comb and honey 

 comb; and the brood comb is also divided into worker comb 

 and drone comb, the drone comb having the largest cells. The 

 size of brood cells, as built by the bees, never varies a hair; 

 that is, worker cells are all one size and brood cells one size; 

 while honey cells are of all sizes and depths. It is very im- 

 portant to be able, from the first, to distinguish the different 

 kinds of comb. The difierence in the size of the cells deter- 

 mines the future of the bee, for all the eggs are the same. 

 Three or four worker cells are made into one long cell for a 

 queen, (c, Fig. Ill,) and drone cells never hatch workers, nor 

 workers drones, although the eggs in both are just alike. 

 Comb building is carried on at night and in stormy weather. 

 When comb must be provided for the honey as fast as it is 

 gathered, much time is lost; but if the bees have plenty of 

 empty comb on hand, or it is furnished to them as fast as filled, 

 they will fill it with astonishing rapidity in the honey season. 

 We have known a strong colony add six pounds to their store 

 in a single day. 



10. Honey, the great object of our labors in bee keeping, is 



