192 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



should be laid on the feed-hole. The American custom 

 of entirely dispensing with crown-board, and substituting 

 in lieu thereof what is called " a quilt," is very generally 

 practised in England. The quilt is composed of a 

 piece of carpet, or piece of duck, and then a thin mattress 

 stuffed with chaff, or other material, on the top of that ; 

 in fact, anything that will warmly cover and yet permit 

 ventilation. Unless the hives be located in a damp 

 place I don't look upon a quilt as an absolute necessity. 

 With my own hives I prefer to let the crown-board 

 remain, and my stocks do not suffer from damp. 



PROPOLIS. 



"And with their stores of gather'd glue contrive 

 To stop the vents and crannies of their hive, 

 Not birdlime, or Idean pitch, produce 

 A more tenacious mass of clammy juice." — ViEGIL. W • '''' " 



This is a resinous substance which the Bees obtain from 

 many trees, and it is applied by them to a variety of 

 useful purposes. It is, I believe, the only one of their 

 stores, if we except Bee-bread, that man has not found 

 it useful to deprive them of. With propolis the Bees fill 

 up every undesirable crevice about their hive, fix the 

 latter to the floor-board, and, often to the annoyance of 

 the users of bar-frame hives, cement the movable (?) 

 crown-board so tightly to the top that it becomes a 

 fixture, and occasions considerable trouble to loosen it. 

 Everything in the hive that is not tightly fixed will soon 

 be put into that condition with propolis. But these are 

 not the only uses to which Bees put propolis. Should 

 dead insects, or other offensive matter, make its unwel- 

 come appearance within the hive, which the Bees are 



