CHAPTER XXIX
THE VARNISH MAKERS
SOME people think that bees gather only honey and pollen, but there is another substance which they collect, and this is called “propolis.” The poplar and pine trees have, as perhaps you know, a resinous kind of matter covering their new shoots, whilst the horse-chestnut protects its leaf buds with a similar sticky substance. This the bees gather, and they draw it off the trees in thin strings, just as sometimes you see children playing with a piece of sticky toffee, by pulling it into two pieces. The bees then roll these strings into balls, and pack them in their pollen baskets, and return to the hive. The other bees help to unload as soon as the gatherers arrive, for the sticky substance soon hardens, and must therefore be got out of the pollen baskets as quickly as possible, and for the same reason it must be used at once. The bees then knead it with their jaws and mix with it some liquid from their mouths, until it is quite soft and pliable.
With this preparation, which is really like varnish, the bees coat the whole of the inside walls if the hive is a new one. Should there be any cracks in the walls or floor, they are carefully filled up to keep out the cold and damp. Then again the propolis, in a stronger form, is used for fastening the combs to the frames, and for any other objects which the little engineers may think need firmly fixing. When we open a hive we find that the felts, which cover the combs and keep them warm, are firmly fastened down to the frames, and sometimes we have to use considerable force to get them off. The frames holding the combs are fastened into position, too, with propolis, and a mixture of this substance and wax is used to cover over the bodies of any intruders who have entered the hive and have been stung to death. The combs containing sealed cells of honey are subjected to a coating of very thin propolis to keep them sweet and clean. Plate XXIV. is a photograph of a frame of comb just removed from the hive. Towards the top you will see bees busy capping the honey cells, and others are varnishing them over with propolis. The cells inside the white lines are pollen cells, and you may see pollen-pellets in them.
PLATE XXIV
From a photograph by] [E. Hawks
A Frame of Comb, showing Bees at Work storing Honey and Pollen