20 The Bee People. 
up with mud except those near the bottom, 
where the bees go in and out. The mud is 
used to keep out moths, which otherwise 
might get in and spoil the honey-combs. 
A row of bee gums standing beside a log 
cabin on a mountain-side is very pretty. 
\" A skep is a hive made 
f twisted straw, and 
- in old times was 
used more than 
<= any other, 
__ particularly 
: c= 4 in England. 
Skeps. a : It hada pe- 
culiar shape, and to this day when we say a 
thing is hive-shaped, we mean it is shaped 
like the skep. 
Once in a while honey-bees make their 
home in the hollow walls of a building, and 
there is a house in a New England city 
where bees have lived for a number of 
years. They are under the roof somewhere, 
and there they stay safe, and year after 
