Vol. LVII-No. 12 



HAMILTON, ILL., DECEMBER, 1917 



MONTHLY, $1 A YEAR 



THE SAGES OF CALIFORNIA 



Notes on the Plants Which Furnish Most of the Honey on the Pacific Coast 



By Frank G. Pellett 



WHEN sage is mentioned, we of 

 the east are likely to think 

 of the common garden sage, 

 Salvia officinalis, which for at least 

 three centuries has been cultivated 

 for its aromatic leaves. Of this there 

 are several varieties, some with broad 

 and some with narrow leaves. The 

 garden sages are good honey plants, 

 but seldom sufficiently abundant to 

 amount to much as honey producers. 

 The honey from the garden sage is 

 said to be nice and white like that 

 from catnip or motherwort. 



The name sage is derived from its 

 supposed power to make people wise 

 by strengthening the memory, for 

 which it was used in ancient medi- 

 cine. 



There are upwards of five hundred 

 species of sages, widely distributed 

 in the temperate and warmer regions 

 of both hemispheres. Probably most 

 of the species yield honey, although 

 but few are known to be important. 

 Rayment mentions the wild sage. 

 Salvia vcrbcnaca, as introduced into 

 Australia from Europe, but now 

 yielding honey during the dry months 

 of the year. (Money in Bees in Aus- 

 tralasia). There are more than two 

 hundred species known to occur in 

 Mexico and Central America and it is 

 very probable that when beekeeping 

 is developed on a commercial scale in 

 those countries that the sages will be 

 found to be very important honcv 

 plants. 



Since practically all sage honey 

 that goes to market in America is 

 from California, the sages from that 

 State are of first importance. Sage 

 is known to occur in other western 

 States and the question is sometimes 

 asked whether any honey is secured 

 from this source elsewhere. In 

 answer to this question Mr. J. E. 

 Miller, of Caldwell, Idaho, writes, in 



Gleanings in Bee Culture (Sept. 15, 

 1908), as follows; 



"My neighbor, Mr. Garfield, experimented 

 with one colony of bees by taking it eight or 

 nine miles away from alfalfa or other culti- 

 vated fields, and setting it among the white 

 sage. He went out to look after it every 

 week and took fresh water. We do not know 

 the exact amount of honey the bees gathered, 

 but they did fully as well as those left at 

 home near the alfalfa. The honey was of that 

 water white color peculiar to California sagt? 

 honey. Mr. Garlield sent samples to Califor- 



THE HYBRID SAGE OF CALIFORNIA. 

 (Photograph by Homer Mathewson.) 



nia and it was pronounced A 1 white sage; so 

 we are convinced that the white sage of South 

 Idaho does yield just as much and just as good 

 honey as that of any other State." 



It is probable that one or more 

 species of sage occur in nearly every 

 State, but they increase in abundance 

 westward. In the arid country west 

 of_ the Missouri river they become 

 sufficiently common so that an appre- 

 ciable amount of honey might be ex- 

 pected in many localities. It is quite 

 likely that sage honey in small 

 amounts is mixed with honey from 

 other sources, and so not detected, in 

 inany localities outside of California. 

 The fact remains, nevertheless, that 

 sage, as an important source of sur- 

 plus, is not reported outside of that 

 State. 



The quality of sage honey is of the 

 best, being water white in color, of 

 a heavy body and delightful flavor. 

 Since it does not granulate, it is much 

 sought for by bottlers in the east, 

 who blend it with clover or alfalfa. 

 There are many who regard sage 

 lioney as the finest in the market. In 

 this connection A. I. Root in an early 

 edition of his A B C of Bee Culture, 

 wrote : 



"I well remember the first taste I had of the 

 mountain sage honey. Mr. Langstroth was 

 visiting me at the time, and his exclamations 

 were much like my own. only that he declared 

 that it was almost identical in flavor with the 

 famed honey of Hymettus, of which we had 

 received a sample some years ago. Well, this 

 honey of Hymettus. which has been celebrated 

 lioth in prose and poetry for ages past, was 

 gathered from the mountain thyme, and the 

 botany tells us that thyme and sage are closely 

 related." 



Although there are several species 

 of sage which yield honey in Califor- 

 nia the quality does not differ ma- 

 terially, as far as can be ascertained 

 front printed reports. It is all de- 

 scribed as "water-white, unexcelled 

 flavor, of heavy body and does not 

 granulate." 



Prof. A. J. Cook wrote to the 



