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 

 twisted straw, and 

 in old times was 

 used more than 

 ^[\[:r' any other, 

 particularly 

 ^ in England. 

 skeps. It had a 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 



