CHAPTER IV. 
THE MATERIALS USED IN THE HIVE. 
BEE GLUE OR PROPOLIS. 
THERE is a great disposition among Bees to coat over every part of 
the interior of the hive. This is done chiefly by what is called Bee 
Glue. This is not a secretion from the Bee, as some have supposed. 
It is a substance which is gathered or scraped from the bark and leaves 
of trees. It is used as a kind of cement in attaching the comb to the 
hive, and in closing up the joints and crevices of the hive, and for 
general coating purposes. When dry it is much stiffer and harder than 
the wax of which the comb is built, and well adapted to the purpose for 
which it is employed. 
WAX. 
This is a secretion from the Bee, which exudes from the body like a 
thick sort of perspiration, between the rings of the abdomen, which 
seem to be connected by so many joints or hinges. This is employed 
in the construction of the comb. As the instruments are very small 
which are used by the Bees, the wax must be very warm or soft in 
order to be wrought by them. Here we see why a small swarm of Bees 
never prosper in a very large hive. Not because they are discouraged 
by the extent of space to be filled, but because they are unable by clus- 
tering together to get up (“steam”) a sufficient degree of animal heat 
in order to mould the wax. 
HONEY. 
This is the proper and only food of the mature Bees at all seasons of 
the year. ‘he queen, the drone and the worker subsist upon it. It is 
collected from a very great variety of blossoms. I shall not attempt 
to enumerate all the sources from which it is gathered. Early in 
spring the Bees work upon the willows and alders which are found in 
our swaraps, more for the pollen which is found upon them than for the 
