A while back we discussed at some length the varnishing of the internal surfaces of hives, including combs. I was overruled on this one, but I haven't changed my opinion. I think the bees varnish everything inside the hive and maybe even the outside at times. Certainly they propolize in and around the entrance. Anyway, I found this about that:

> I have a little comment to make on the article by Allen Latham (page 152, March, 1921, Gleanings) entitled "Washboard Actions of Bees." I do not believe that he is right in his theory that they are simply working off excess energy. After giving this peculiar action a careful study, I have come to the conclusion that the bees are simply performing necessary work of which I will speak later. As far as comparing the movements of the bees to the activity of a wild caged animal, I think he is surely mistaken. We have long recognized the fact that bees relax into semi-inactivity when the occasion requires except in the case of o!d beea when they need a cleansing flight. Then what does this washboard action of bees really signify? Simply that varnishing is being done, cracks filled, and things made slick and clean. I agree with Mr. Latham that this action is more prevalent after the honey flow. I also agree with him as to the age of the bees in question, namely, those of the wax-working age. That the wax-workers are also the varnishers is a recognized fact. We find much more varnish or propolis on our sections of honey at the close of the honey flow than at a time when nectar is flowing abundantly, because at that time the wax scales are plentiful, and the builders need not resort to other substances to finish their work. At this time when comb-building should cease and varnishing begin, the bees seem to blend the two and make yellow bitter combs. I call this peculiar washboard action a necessity, since it is their way of putting the hive into a sanitary condition, and of preparing for winter by sealing cracks and covering objectionable matter. I once laid a new piece of section near the entrance of a beehive, and before night it was covered with a thin coat of the so-called varnish. 

C. F. Wieneke in Gleanings in Bee Culture, September 1921

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