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leaves of which, in their shining surfaces, speak of the 
waxen varnish with which nature’s pencilled rays has 
touched these blooming beauties, and must forever have 
been beyond our reach, had it not been for the little 
chemist , the bee, whose active industry and peculiar 
organization fits it to become a channel through which 
each opening flower yields its silent offering as a 
penance for bathing in the morning dews. 
Wax forms an article of commerce of no inconsider- 
able value. The exports of this article alone from the 
island of Cuba, has reached the enormous sum of 
$500,000 in a single year. Some countries import, 
while others export large quantities of it. It is exten- 
sively used in the religious ceremonies of different 
countries where the Roman Catholic religion prevails. 
It is used largely in this country for candles, different 
preparations of plasters, salves, ointments, and various 
chemical preparations; and more recently has been 
made into wax flowers, many of them displaying taste 
and beauty that do credit to the fair hands that mould 
them ; but so far fall short of the real, that no bee has, 
ever yet been known to sip nectar from their cups. 
HONEY-PRODUCING PLANTS AND TREES. 
Connected with the cultivation of the hee, it is 
essential that we understand the true conditions that 
most favor its prosperity ; that these may be known, 
and in a great degree perfected by the hand of man, 
we are quite certain. Who would think of going to 
the forest, to sow and reap the “ golden harvest,” until 
the woodman’s axe had felled the giant oaks ; and the 
virgin soil had polished the ploughman’s steel? Do you 
gather the apple from the beech ? or the pear, or plum, 
