2C>6 . PROPOLIS SITUATION AIR SOIL. 



is commerce itself to subsist ? In Mortimer's time, 

 we find wax was an article of never-failing ready 

 sale, and the price was then from five to six pounds 

 per cwt., the present, from six to eighteen guineas. 

 The method to obtain pure wax, is to preserve the 

 hives constantly free from water and damps, and in- 

 deed, all foulness ; to insure which, they must not 

 be retained in use after becoming worn with decay. 



Propolis is that viscous matter or cement, of the 

 nature of wax, with which, notwithstanding its vis- 

 cosity, bees, as they are commencing labour, glue 

 up all the crevices of the hive. This somewhat duc- 

 tile substance is of a dark brown, and sometimes 

 auburn hue, and in countries abounding with odori- 

 ferous flowers and shrubs, it emits a grateful per- 

 fume. It is of a resinous quality, and has medicinal 

 uses ; is also a varnish of a superior kind. It is effi- 

 cacious in hoarseness, appeasing the cough. 



Undoubtedly, the best and most promising situa- 

 tion for establishing an apiary, is the vicinity of 

 woods and commons, and of brooks, rather than of 

 large lakes or rivers, in which the bees, when drink- 

 ing, are often driven away and perish. A dry air 

 and a light soil, productive of odoriferous shrubs, 

 are also, perhaps, essential to the production of the 

 best honey and the finest wax ; but as bees are little 

 injured by cold, they may be kept upon any soil 

 which will feed them, on the condition of their being 

 preserved free from moisture and damps. The bee 

 will travel to the distance of six or seven miles in 

 search of food, guided by an instinctive power of 

 smelling at a distance, that which is most agreeable 



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