PBOPOLIS. 129 



IS IT AN ELABORATK OR NATURAL SUBSTANCE 1 



No modera observer has ever been able to detect 

 the bees in the act of gathering it. 



huber's opinion. 

 Huber tells us, that " near the outlet of one of his 

 hives, he placed some of the branches of the poplar, 

 which exudes a transparent juice, the color of garnet. 

 Several workers were soon seen perched upon these 

 branches, — having detached some of this resinous 

 gum, they formed it into pellets, and deposited them 

 in the baskets of their thighs ; thus loaded, they flew 

 to the hive, where some of their fellow-laborers in- 

 stantly came to assist them in -detaching this viscid, 

 substance from their baskets." Some of our modern 

 apiarians have doubted this account of Huber's. 

 Now, in the absence of anything positive on this sub- 

 ject, I am inclined to adopt this theory; that it is a 

 resin or gum produced by trees. (I cannot say that I 

 am exactly satisfied with the story of bringing the 

 "branches and laying them by the hive," &c.) That 

 bees gather it in its natural state, is in accordance with 

 my own observation. 



FURTHER PROOF. 



Our first -swarms that issue in May, or first of June, 

 seldom use much of the article pure for soldering and 

 plastering ; but instead, a composition, the most of 

 which is wax. I have noticed at this season, when 

 old pieces of boards that had been used for hives, 

 were left in the sun, that this old propolis would 

 become so^; in the middle of the day. Here I have 

 frequently seen the bees at work, packing it upon their 



