Jeanne Gray, age 13, of Cloquet, Minnesota, for her question:

What is bee glue?

We all know that the busy little bees make delicious honey, and also wax to model the neat, six sided cells in which to store it. Well, these talented insects also use a special kind of glue. It is a thick, rather sticky material and the bees do not actually make it. As usual, they gather the ingredients from the plant world. Many plants manufac¬ture resins and various waxy substances. For example, evergreens coat their leaves with waterproof materials of this sort. Usually the bees perform their glue making projects in the late fall. The workers gather supplies of plant waxes and bring them home to the hive. The gummy stuff is molded and stuffed into cracks and crevices around the hive. In this way the hive is made waterproof and weatherproof for the winter. We call the gummy stuff bee glue, bee experts call it propolis