HONEY. 97 



I have failed to discover our bees attaching their 

 combs to the top and sides of the hives, as others 

 have described ; ours have stuck the wax of which 

 the combs were built directly on the top and sides. 

 I think I am safe in saying, that combs are invariably 

 stuck to the top and sides with wax, and not propolis ; 

 and as a general thing, if combs get broken a little, 

 they are again united with wax. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, I have seen propolis used at the sides or top 

 when the comb would be loosened a little, and even 

 when no sign of this existed. I have also seen the 

 fastenings strengthened by layers of pollen, laid on 

 nicely where the comb and top or side of the hive 

 met, seemingly as a precaution to prevent the weight 

 of the comb or dampness of the wood from breaking 

 it loose. 



Propolis gathered from some sources becomes 

 hard, and has something of the appearance of a wax 

 made by adding a little tallow to rosin (of commerce), 

 say one-eighth part; this composition when warm, 

 say blood heat, becomes pliable like shoemaker's 

 wax, but wheu cold is brittle, and will break and fly 

 like rosin itself. In fact, propolis is so diversified in 

 quality aud texture, that it requires a considerable 

 stretch of the imagination to suppose it to be a pro- 

 duction of the bee, in the same sense that the wax is 

 produced. Quinby seems to hold the opinion of its 

 being a vegetable production. Several old writers 

 suppose the bees use a portion of propolis diluted, 

 forming a kind of varnish or sizing, and with this 

 they varnish the cells of the combs. Langstroth fol- 

 9 



