CHAPTER V. 
Dwellings of Bees. — Skill of Bees in furnishing them. — 
Shape of Cells. — Secretion of Wax. — Gathering of 
Honey. — Propolis. — Neatness and Health of the Hive. 
The hive is not the original home of the bee. 
In their wild state the bees constructed their 
beautiful net-work of cells in the decaying trunks 
of trees, in crevices of the rocks, and in the 
ground. Thus, in one of the Psalms, God says, 
“ With honey out of the rock Should I have sat- 
isfied thee ; ” and Moses, “ He made him to suck 
honey out of the rock.” 
Virgil, in one of his poems, writes: — 
