JULY 15, 1912 



they gave the bees au esthetic pleasure, but 

 because of their utility. 



Both red and blue flowers owe their col- 

 oring to a pigment called anthocyan, dis- 

 solved in the cell-sap, which in the red 

 flowers is acid, and alkaline in the blue 

 flowers. Anthocyan is probably a com- 

 pound of a tannic acid and a sugar, for it 

 occurs only in plants containing tannic 

 acid, and it rapidly increases when such 

 plants are fed with an invert sugar. Its 

 formation is also stimulated by strong sun- 

 light. Very likely, instead of one pigment 

 there are several closely related soluble 

 pigments. 



If the cell-sap is very strongly acid, a 

 red flower will be likely always to retain its 

 hue; but if it is nearly neutral it may 

 change to blue, either in the bud or after 

 expanding. Finally, if the cell-sap is alka- 

 line the blue hue will aj^pear in the bud. 

 In both fruits and flowers, as they mature, 

 the acidity tends to decrease. This is very 

 noticeable in many fruits, where, from be- 

 ing hard and sour, they become sweet and 

 mellow. In the blueberry and many other 

 berries the color becomes blue. 



A majority of bee-flowers, as a matter of 

 fact, are red or blue. Of 100 species of 

 bee-flowers growing in the Alps, 34 are 

 white or yellow, and 66 red or blue. In the 

 German and Swiss flora, 152 bee-flowers 

 are white or yellow, and 330 red, violet, or 

 blue. 



Blue flowers often change to white, 

 sometimes to yellow, and occasionally to 

 pink or red. In the American Garden for 

 January, 1890, a variety of perennial plilox 

 is described, the flowers of which in the 

 morning were clear blue, remaining this 

 color until nearly noon, when they gradual- 

 ly changed to a delicate pink, and by even- 

 ing were a beautiful deep rose. 



Many purple and blue flowers are valu- 

 able as honey-plants, as asters, thistles, 

 borage, blue lupine, blueweed, catnip, and 

 to a variable extent many other species be- 

 longing to the pea, mint, and fig-wort fam- 

 ilies. Blue flowers, however, appear as a 

 whole to be of much less value as sources of 

 nectar than yellow or white ones. The blue 

 lupine, for instance, in Texas in some sea- 

 sons completely carpets the ground for 

 miles; but according to Scholl it does not 

 yield nectar very abundantly, and in some 

 years fails entirely. 



As the result of our examination we con- 

 clude that the secretion of nectar does not 

 depend either upon the color or form of 

 the flower. The catkins of the poplar are 

 pollinated by the wind, and do not contain 

 nectar; but there are nectaries at the base 



of the leaf-stalks. Both the flower's and 

 the leaf-bracts of the cotton secrete nectar. 

 Mr. Yancey says in Gleanings, "When at- 

 mospheric conditions are just right, such 

 large drops of nectar will collect on these 

 leaf -glands that one may readily taste it ; 

 and a bee has to visit only a very few to 

 obtain a load. At such times they neglect 

 the blossoms entirely, and the honey comes 

 in with a considerable rush." Many other 

 plants also have extra-floral glands. They 

 occur on the stipules of the common field 

 bean, and likewise on the leaf-stems of 

 some kinds of plums. Nectar-glands are 

 also found on the stalks of some species of 

 ferns so that primarily tliis function seems 

 to exist quite independently of insects, 

 though of course it has been developed in 

 flowers to attract their visits. 



Finally, in the lists of honey-plants the 

 elm and hazelnut are occasionally included. 

 Both are Avind-iJollinated, and contain no 

 nectar. Neither is the cardinal flower of 

 value to the beekeeper. It is adapted to 

 hummingbirds, and the nectar is beyond 

 the reach of bees. 



Lists of honey-plants should distinguish 

 between flowers pollinated by insects and 

 those pollinated by the wind. The latter, 

 according to my experience, do not contains 

 nectar, though there are sometimes extra- 

 floral nectaries. The plantains and a few- 

 other species, however, are in an interme- 

 diate stage, and are pollinated both by the 

 wind and by insects, and are nectariferous. 

 It would also be of interest to state the 

 color of the flower, the kind of odor, if any, 

 it possesses, also its form, and whether 

 conspicuous or not; whether the nectar is 

 deeply concealed or fully exposed, and 

 whether there are numerous other visitors. 



Waldoboro, Me. 



THAT IMPERIAL COUNTY ORDINANCE 



Bluff Legislation 



BY J. EDGAR ROSS. 



On page 90, Feb. 1, there appeared a 

 short letter from A. F. Wagner, our coun- 

 ty bee inspector, stating that an ordinance 

 had been passed by the board of supervis- 

 ors that would prevent the shipment of 

 bees into this county after Feb. 1. The 

 letter escaped my notice at the time, though 

 I afterward read the comments ma'de upon 

 it by other writers, and thought there must 

 be a misunderstanding somewhere, as I was 

 quite sure that no such ordinance had ever- 

 been passed. 



