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455 



sect aid ; and although flowerless, its 

 organic germs were no less a reality 

 than at a more recent date, when the 

 requirements of its existence developed 

 efflorescence ; and a less cloudy atmos- 

 phere allowed a more favorable 

 potency to the fructifying influence of 

 the sun's rays. 



Among the species of marine plants 

 are those which grow a long distance 

 from the bottom of the sea, to reach 

 the surface of their watery bed, and 

 embrace tiie stimulating elements of 

 an open firmament ; some to bud, and 

 bloom, and yield seed after their kind 

 in congenial conditions ; and others, to 

 absorb the exhilaration of light and 

 warmth only. I have "paced off" 

 sections of the " kelp" stalk 40 feet in 

 length, that had been rent from the 

 growing plant, and driven on shore by 

 storms at sea. 



The fresh-water lily will grow 10 

 feet to reach the surface ; and will not 

 unfold its snowy petals until it can re- 

 ceive the full force of unrestricted 

 light. On land, many species of flow- 

 ering plants that open their buds to 

 the rising Sun, close them on his 

 decline. 



The sun-flower — helianthus — unfolds 

 its disk to the East, in the morning, 

 follows the Sun in his diurnal course, 

 and closes it again on his disappear- 

 ance beneath the Western horizon ; 

 turns again to the East during the 

 night, to again repeat the process of 

 each preceding day, until the require- 

 ments of light and wamth. as stimu- 

 lants to the development of its repro- 

 ductive functions, ai'e no longer need- 

 ful. 



The dandelion, and many other 

 flowering plants less conspicuous than 

 the sun-flower, fold their petals during 

 the night, and during stoAiy weather, 

 and even during very dark, cloudy 

 days. 



That any flower which fails to dis- 

 play its bloom at imfavorable times, 

 should be conscious that its insect 

 friends are prevented in their minis- 

 trations by inclement weather, does 

 not seem probable. Many showy 

 flowers which do not secrete nectar; 

 and many others which do, propagate 

 from bulbs or root-seeds. I have been 

 shown the root of the red clover, with 

 what were described to be seeds exist- 

 ing in openings along its tap-root. If 

 these are true seeds, should the plant 

 "run out," its extinction could hardlj' 

 be attributed to the absence of insect 

 aid in distributing the pollen from its 

 bloom. 



The bloom of the potato vine is verj' 

 profuse, and yields pollen abundantly, 

 but it is never visited by bees, to my 

 knowledge. The potato projtagates 

 from the seed and tuber, and, as is 

 well known, is one of the most prolific 



food-producing plants of tlie vegetable 

 world. 



The common sheep-laurel is very 

 conspicuous in its crimson bloom, in 

 the old hill-pastures of New England, 

 but being very poisonous, it is not 

 visited by the honey-bee. I am not 

 informed whether the laurel of the 

 North yields nectar, but I have watched 

 the bees while at work on inconspicu- 

 ous flowers near by its flaming clumps, 

 and have never seen them give its 

 showy inducements any attention. 



Bees will search out a single flower 

 of the wild raspberry when isolated 

 from its kindred bloom, and hidden 

 among other shrubbery so that its ap- 

 proximation to the querist might be 

 discovered only by the hum of the 

 insects. This I have noticed many 

 times in connection with the raspberry 

 and a late-blooming aster, with a veiy 

 small purple flower, which grows on 

 the margin of ponds, among the dense 

 foliage of the sweet-bay. After a 

 severe frost has killed all flowering 

 vegetation in the open lands, this re- 

 clusive gem, protected by the shrub- 

 beiy in which it delights to nestle, will 

 retain its vitality, and secrete nectar, 

 and produce pollen until cut off by the 

 more severe cold of approaching win- 

 ter. 



Another very inconspicuous flower 

 which occupies the attention of the 

 honey-bee, is found on the witch-hazel. 

 The first time my attention was called 

 to the witch-hazel as a honey-producer, 

 happened while passing through a 

 clump of bushes, and hearing the hum 

 of bees at work. Casually, I could 

 discern no bloom, but after a more 

 careful search I discovered the flowers 

 with the bees at work on them, gath- 

 ering pollen, surely, and nectar appar- 

 ently. 



Many other instances might be 

 enumerated that would serve to con- 

 tract the showy-inducement theory, but 

 it seems that a strictly practical ob- 

 servation will convince the most skep- 

 tical, that the odor of the flower, and 

 the habitual requirements of nectar- 

 loving insects, are realities in the re- 

 lations of bees and flowers that need 

 no modifying. Bright, or variegated 

 flowers, are no more attractive to the 

 hive-bee that those of a plainer hue. 

 The best nectar-producing trees and 

 plants here, taking them in their sea- 

 sons, are the sugar maple, raspberry, 

 locust, white clover, ast«r, and — what 

 it is hoped will be our "National 

 flower" — the golden-rod ! 



In the apple bloom, on many trees, 

 a pale pink color predominates, while 

 others arc tinged with pink, but the 

 major part arc destitute of color. 

 Notwithstanding the extent and bril- 

 liancy of the fruit-bloom, my bees will 

 give the more modest bloom of the 



maple the preference, when both kinds 

 of trees are in blossom at the same 

 time, and yielding nectar quite plenti- 

 fully. 



In an objective capacity color may 

 be useful to. bees when foraging, but 

 they often wing their way from one 

 flower to another, giving to each a 

 casual glance, without stopping to ap- 

 ply the ligular to the chalice. 



Here, again, it may be obsers'cd, if 

 care is exercised, that plain uni-colored 

 petals are as foi'cible in their attrac- 

 tiveness as gaudy multi-colored petals. 

 Bloom, in the vegetable species, is but 

 an indication of the sexual impulse in- 

 herent in the object it represents ; ex- 

 pressive of what may contribute to the 

 perpetuation of its kind in the sphere 

 which it specially fills in the economy of 

 Nature ; as when expressive of the 

 same impulse manifested through the 

 medium of the animal organism ; and 

 it seems next to an absolute certainty 

 that, if the nectar-yielding trees, 

 shrubs and plants, in their floral dis- 

 play were prompted by no other cause 

 than that of inducing insects to fructify 

 their seed germs, they would not bloom 

 at all. On the other hand, it is very 

 certain that, if the hive-bee was 

 actuated by no other motive than that 

 of conveying pollen from flower to 

 flower, it would obtain its food from 

 some other source. 



The limits of human knowledge are, 

 uncertainty ; but when we take into 

 consideration the facts that the animal 

 is the oftspring of the vegetable ; the 

 vegetable an out-crop of the mineral, 

 and that the vegetable absorbs from 

 the mineral the ingredients, which, by 

 the rays of light, are modified, and 

 develop in changing hues of mirrored 

 beauty ; the teachings that the melli- 

 ferous flora adorns itself in those 

 pleasing colors, as an allurement to 

 induce insects to sip the nectar from 

 its cup, and gather the pollen from its 

 stamens ; when that same nectar and 

 pollen are the only food accessible to 

 animals organically constituted to ob- 

 tain their sustenance from the flower ; 

 and which can have no other induce- 

 ment to prompt them to visit the 

 flower do not accord with the evolv- 

 ing disclosures that may be deduced 

 from cause and effect, in which there 

 is no accidentalism. 



A"-ain, when we take into considera- 

 tionlhe fact that the elements in the 

 dust-grains upon which we tread are 

 but representative of the elements 

 which comprise the make-up of the 

 blazing suns of planetary systems in 

 the boundless realms of space, where 

 suns are but as drops of water in the 

 ocean, the shadowy assertion of acci- 

 dental develoinnent will meet with a 

 frail support ; for, in every pulsation of 

 Nature, there is revealed to the senses, 



