bee-keeper's manual. 99 



salt is given to bees or not. I have stated my own 

 views on the subject, and leave the matter to the option 

 of the reader, or bee-keeper, to use it, if he pleases. 



CHAPTER X 



PROPOLIS. 



Here again, we broach a disputed subject, viz ; — 

 whether propolis is a natural or a manufactured sub- 

 stance ? It makes no difference to us, in the prosperity 

 of our bees, to know whether it is the one or the other ; 

 yet we all have an inkling of Yankee inquisitiveness to 

 know more than is absolutely necessary of every sub- 

 ject in which we feel an interest ; and methinks I hear 

 some curious "Jonathan" exclaim — "I wish I knew 

 what it's made of!" Well, perhaps you can guess. If 

 you can, you can do what has never yet been done. 



But it may be well to inform the reader, what sub- 

 stance is meant by the term propolis. Propolis is the 

 glutinous substance, that is used by bees to fill all cracks 

 and crevices about the hive. It is much darker than 

 wax, the substance that the combs are constructed of, 

 and it is of a more adhesive, tenacious nature. The 

 quantity that a family of bees sometimes produce is 

 astonishing. 



