I saw Marla at the Wisconsin bee meeting. She showed that bees will coat rough wood, but not necessarily smooth wood, with propolis. Mann Lake, Dadant should take note. Plane the outside of the board to facilitate paint, etc., but leave the backside (inside) rough. I did a quick search - found others have reported the bee response to rough wood, over a period of many years. One of those things that keeps getting rediscovered. Marla's contribution is the apparent benefit of bees using propolis to coat, seal, and inhibit microbes. Jerry *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm