Page:How to Keep Bees.djvu/93

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THE INDUSTRIES OF THE HIVE
63

and it plasters into immobility all the modern appliances of the hive which man invented to be movable; and section-boxes are so stained with it that they have to be scraped before being sent to market. Above all, it gets on the hands of the operator, so that the digits of each act as one, or not at all, and everything touched sticks to them as if they were magnets; it also daubs the clothing, and if profane men were ever bee-keepers, it would incite them to wicked remarks. However, alcohol, applied to hands and clothing, solves the difficulty by dissolving the propolis; and a bottle of it is a most necessary adjunct to the equipment of the apiary. Benzine, gasoline, ether, and chloroform are as efficacious as alcohol, but not so pleasant to use. Boiling lye will clean clothes and apparatus that have become clogged with bee-glue.