SAGE. 



390 



SAGE. 



sage honey. Mr. Langstroth was visiting us 

 at the time, and his exclamations were much 

 like our own, only that he declared it was al- 

 most identical in flavor with the famed hon- 

 ey of Hymettus, of which he had received a 

 sample some years before. Well, this honey 

 of Hymettus,which has been celebrated both 

 in poetry and prose for ages past, is gath- 

 ered from mountain thyme, and the bot- 

 any tells us that thyme and sage not only be- 

 long to the same family, but are closely re- 

 lated. Therefore it is nothing strange if 

 Mr. Langstroth was right in declaring our 

 California honey to be almost if not quite 

 identical in flavor with the honey of Hymet- 

 tus. The California sages grow along the 

 sides of the mountains, and blossom success- 

 ively as the season advances ; that is, the 

 bees first commence work on them in the val- 

 leys, and then gradually fly higher up, as the 

 blossoms open on the mountain-side, giving 

 them a much longer season than we have in 

 regions not mountainous. 



The late John H. Martin, who was then 

 traveling in California, had this to say of 

 the mountain sages. The manner in which 

 the bee has learned how to open the trap- 

 door is particularly interesting. 



The first sage to come into tolossom is tiiat vari- 

 ously called black sag-e, button sage, and boiled 

 sage. Upon tliese buttons, or bolls, the little llow- 

 er-tube appears, and is much lilie the flower-tube in 

 the rod-clover blossom. Flowers develop from the 

 outer edge of the button for several weeks. The 

 bush is about five feet in height, bearing a large 

 number of stalks, with several buttons to the 

 stalk, the largest one being a little over an inch in 

 diameter, and diminishing in size toward the tip of 

 the stalk. A tiny drop of nectar can be squeezed 

 from the little tube, just as we can squeeze it from 

 the tube of red clover. When the flowering season 

 is past, the buttons turn nearly black in hue, and 

 cling to tlie busli until tlie next season. 



In habit and appearance tlie white sage is 

 entirely different. Tlie woody portion and the 

 leaves are nearly white, which gives it its name. 

 The flowering stalk makes a rapid growth of sever- 

 al feet in one season, and the plant throws out a 

 dozen or more of these stalks, all the way from 

 three to eight feet in height. Each stalk is loads 1 

 with racemes of buds, which continue to produce 

 flowers for several weeks. 



The description of the white sage is not complete 

 without giving the way in which the bee sips the 

 nectar from the white-sage blossom. The opening 

 in the corolla is nearly large enough for the bee to 

 thrust its head into; but, as if jealous of its trea. 

 sured sweets, the flower is provided with a long pro- 

 jecting lip that curls up not unlike a letter S, and 

 in such a manner as to close effectually the en- 

 trance. When I first saw a white-sage blossom, it 

 was with much interest I speculated upon how the 

 bee gained access to the nectar. Soon a busj' work- 

 er darted in among the flowers, and aliglited upon 



the projecting portion of the S-shaped lip.which bent 

 down under the weight of the bee, opening the door 

 to its treasure-house.which the bee soon relieved of 

 its contents. Upon the departure of the bee the 

 door immediately closed again, to be opened and 

 reopened by the successive foragers. When the 

 rainfall has been light, white sage does not bloom 

 so profusely; and, furthermore, the lip of the 

 flower is stunted and so short that the bee can not 

 find st;ui(liiij.-ro3m upon it; hence, after vainly striv- 



A STEM OF CAMKOIINIA BUTTON SAGE 

 AVITH BL0SS03IS. 



ing to gain an entrance, it reluctantly seeks an 

 other flower with well - developed lips which 

 readily yields to the bee, and a load is secured as 

 quickly from this flower as from the simple tube of 

 the button sage. It is when the sages are in blos- 

 som, in May and June, that the bee-keeper has to 

 bust le in order to keep his dish right side up. 



A peculiarity of this honey is that it is 

 not inclined to candy, but remains limpid 

 during the severest winter weathei'. We have 

 taken a sample so thick that the tumbler 

 containing it might be turned bottom up- 

 ward without its running at all, and placed 

 it out in the snow, in the dead of winter, and 



