“That gummy substance which the bees use, chiefly in summer to construct a sort of curtain between the entrance and the hive, is called propolis, and by the same name is used by physicians in making plasters:  by reason of which use it sells in the Via Sacra for more than honey itself.  That substance which is called erithacen, and is used to glue the cells together, is different from both honey and propolis:  it is supposed to have a quality of attraction for bees and is accordingly mixed with bee balm and smeared on the branch or other place on which it is desired to have a swarm light.  The comb is made of wax and is multicellular, each cell in it having six sides or as many as nature has given the bee feet.  It is said that bees do not gather from the same plants all the materials which enter in these four substances which they manufacture, namely:  propolis, erithacen, wax and honey.  Thus from the pomegranate and the asparagus they gather food alone, wax from the olive tree, honey from the fig, but not of good quality:  other plants like the bean, the bee balm, the gourd and the cabbage serve a double purpose and yield both wax and food:  while the apple and the wild pear serve a similar double purpose but for food and honey and the poppy again for wax and honey.

“Others again provide material for three purposes, food, honey and wax, such as the almond and the charlock.[215] In like manner there are flowers from each of which they derive a different one of these substances, and others from which they derive several of them:  while they make distinctions in respect of plants according to the quality of the product they yield,—­or rather the plants make the distinction for them—­as with respect to honey, some yield liquid honey, like the skirwort,[216] and others thick honey like the rosemary.  So again honey of insipid flavour is made from the fig, good honey from clover, and the best of all from thyme.

“And since drink is part of a bee’s diet and water is the liquid they use, there should be provided near the stand a place for them to drink, which may be either a running stream or a reservoir not more than two or three fingers deep in which bricks or stones are placed in such a way as to project a little from the water, and so furnish a place for the bees to sit and drink; but the greatest care must be taken to keep this water fresh, as it is of high importance to the making of good honey.

“As the bees cannot go out to distant pasture in all weathers, food must be prepared for them, as otherwise they will live on their supply of honey and so deplete the store in the hive.  For this purpose ten pounds of ripe figs may be boiled in six congii of water and bits of the paste thus prepared should be set out near the hives.  Others provide honey water in little dishes and float flocks of clean wool on them through which the bees may suck without risk of either getting more than is good for them or of being drowned.  One such dish should be provided for each hive and they should be kept filled.  Others again bray dried grapes and figs together and, mixing in some boiled must, make a paste of which bits are exposed near the hives during such part of the winter as the bees are still able to go forth in search of food.