1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



513 



Contrary to what many might expect, the 

 bulk of white-saj^e honey does not necessa- 

 rily come from the California white-sage 

 plant. Indeed, if I am correct, it furnishes 

 only a very small part of the honey bearing- 

 that name. The black and button sages 

 that are quite different in appearance fur- 

 nish the most of it. 





When I visited Mr. Mclntyre I had great 

 difficulty in discriminating between the 

 black and the button sage, and I frequent- 

 ly^ confused one for the other as he pointed 

 them out. Even now, after the engravings 

 are made I am at a loss to say which is 

 which. The white sage, however, differs 

 very materially in general appearance from 

 the black or button sage. The first men- 

 tioned runs up in large square stalks, and 

 has beautiful little flowers that are quite 

 attractive. I made an efl'ort to photograph 

 life size the white-sage blossom and stalk, 

 and the same are shown in Fig. 1. 



The peculiarity of the flower is that the 

 bee alights on the large corolla lip so that 

 its own weight can pull the lip down, then 

 it can run its head down into the blossom, 

 and with its pencil-like brush sweep the 

 tiny drop of nectar found in the very base 

 of the flower. The engraving that appears 

 in the ABC book represents the manner 

 in which the bee has to struggle to get the 

 honey; and I reproduce it here — see Fig. 2; 

 but this picture of the flower itself is not 

 correct. The one I show in Fig. 1 is taken 

 from nature, and is very nearly life size. 

 You will observe how insignificant the fo- 

 liage; and if you can imagine a pale gray 

 or whitish green you will get some idea of 

 its appearance. The seed-pods are shown 

 lower down on the stalk. 



In Fig. 3 I have shown a stalk of what I 

 f/ihiJt is button sage. The little white flow- 

 ers standing out from the buttons, you will 

 notice, have long corolla-tubes; and it was 

 doubted by Mr. Mclntyre and myself wheth- 

 er the average Italian bee could reach the 

 bottom of all these tubes. It is, therefore, 

 very important, if we can get them, to have 

 long-tongued bees for California as well as 

 for the Eastern States, where red clover is 

 grown so abundantly. But there are dozens 

 of other insignificant plants with deep co- 

 rolla-tubes throughout the United States 

 as I discovered on my trip. But the black 

 or button sage is perhaps the most impor- 

 tant and prominent in all the West. 



In Fig. 4 is shown a large bush of button 

 sage, I think. The flower-clusters stand 

 gut from the "buttons;" but in the plaut 



shown, the blossoms have given way to seed 

 pods, forming the clusters or "buttons." 

 In this cut are seen patches all over the side 

 of the mountain. But the dark spots are 

 not sage, but probably low trees or shrub- 

 bery. The white or lighter spots are prob- 

 ably the button sage. The view over be- 

 yond the large plant shown in the fore- 

 ground of the mountain-side may be any- 

 where from five to ten miles distant. The 

 atmosphere is so clear that one has no idea 

 how far he is looking; and a tenderfoot is 

 all at sea that distance. 



At the time I visited Mr. Mclntyre the 

 black and button sages were going out of 

 bloom, and the white sages were coming in, 

 although I believe they sometimes come in 

 almost together. 



In our next issue I will try to give you a 

 view of the black sage, and at the same time 

 tell something about an automatic reversi- 

 ble extractor that reverses at full speed. 



FIG. 3, 



A STKM O!' CALII'-Or^NIA BUTTON 

 S .GE WITH BLOSSOMS. 



