June 20. 1907 



American Hee Journal 



session of plenty of queens in early 

 spring. 



4. To the experimental apiarist, the 

 advantages of the hive are so many ami 

 so important that I prefer to defer 

 even suggestion in reference to them 

 till later, when I ma.v be able to an- 

 nounce and to illustrate some of the 

 things thr.t have been done, rather than 

 predict vrbat possibly may be accom- 

 plished. I will merely advise the reader 

 to procure one or more of these hives; 

 and my assurance is that, if he will 

 handle' them, study them, and dream 

 about them as much as has the in- 

 ventor, some of the suggestions will 

 come to him spontaneously, and thus 

 give him all the charm and pleasure of 

 orignal discovery. The results of such 

 discoveries may add much of value to 

 the apiarist as" well as to the scientist. 

 It would be, you know, difficult to play 

 a game of chess through all its en- 

 trancing situations if the men were of 

 full size. One can often imagine and 

 theorize better in miniature, better with 

 a plan than with the completed house, 

 better with a map than with the coun- 

 try itself. Perhaps these advantages 



will be vours it you bei-oun- an experi- 

 mental apiarist with the Pearl Agnes 

 hive. 



It is not for me within the province 

 of this article to tell you what I think 

 the manufacturers intend to do with 

 this hive. But I will give you a small 

 hint as to what I suspected was in the 

 mind of one of the jnanagers when he 

 said a certain thing. From this I in 

 fer (and I "guess" that the inference 

 is well founded) that they no more ex 

 pect to make a profit directly from this 

 hive than the fisherman expects to eat 

 the chubby little "shiner" that he 

 puts on his hook when be goes angling 

 for pickerel. These shrewd manufac 

 turers know that bee-keeping is fas- 

 cinating, and that all they have to 

 do is to get you started. Everything 

 else follows easily. So this hive will 

 be put on the market at less than net 

 cost, and in this laudable action the 

 manufacturers will not be hampered by 

 anv patent to be taken out by the in- 

 ventor. He has too strongly at heart 

 the interests of apiculture as an educa- 

 tional factor. 



But, to revert to the figure of the 

 fisherman and his bait. The parallel is 

 not quite true, and so far as it is in- 

 accurate it is to your advantage. This 

 "bait" (the Pearl Agnes hive) in it- 

 self is good, and the more freely it is 

 offered (bv the manufacturers) the more 

 reason for vour pulling it off the 

 "hook" and taking it home with you 

 —in fact get several of the "baits. 



The name ' ' Pearl Agnes ' ' is in honor 

 of the 10-year-old sweetness-maker of 

 the "B(igelow)-hive" in which I am 

 writing. 



Where Do the Flowers Get 

 Their Color ? 



BT GASTOX BONNIER. 



Why are the flowers adorned with 

 rich colors? The poets have found 

 many answers to this query, which to- 

 day is raised anew with violent con- 

 troversies among the learned. There 

 is a theory, first expounded by a bi- 

 zarre personage under the name of 

 Christian Conrad Sprengel in 1793, 

 which has been everywhere believed. 

 This theoiy postulates a perpetual strife 

 on the part of the flowers for brilliance 

 in order to win recognition at a dis- 

 tance from the honeyed insects. It is 

 to attract these that the corolla is dec- 

 orated with bright hues. 



1 occupied myself with this question 

 for a long time when I was doing- some 

 work for my thesis for the doctorate of 

 sciences. I was taught the absolute 

 reciprocal relations between the insects 

 and the flowers, the attraction of the 

 bees by the colors. I was convinced 

 in advance, with the enthusiasm of 

 youth, that my observations and ex- 

 periments served to confirm all the 

 points of these propositions in bring 

 ing fresh proofs to bear upon them. 

 Tlie excellent Becaisne, a little skep- 

 tical on this point, encouraged me to 

 yii on in my work. At the end of some 

 ^months I was desolate. All my observa- 

 tions and all my experiments contra- 

 dicted the theory of reciprocal adapta- 

 tion, and in particular the role attrib- 

 uted to the color of the flowers in tlie 

 attraction of the bees. 



After a continuation of my observa- 

 tions I prepared a list of plants whose 

 flowers are scarcely visible, obscure, 

 uncolored, or green like the leaves of 

 the plant itself, but which all are most 

 nectariferous and abundantly visited by 

 bees and other insects. To this list I 

 added that of all the trees on whose 

 leaves the bees sought their honey stuff 

 — leaves not colored otherwise than 

 neighboring leaves without the houe\ 

 — and all the plants where insects come 

 for nectar, besides flowers, the various 

 parts of a vegetable, not colored, not 

 visible, and wherein are situated the 

 nectars termed extra-floral. 



I prepared another long list, includ- 

 ing the names of plants with highly 

 colored flowers, but wherein there was 

 no secretion of sugared liquid, where, 

 in consequence, the insects did not 

 come. 



As for experiments, I made many and 

 varied, all of wdiieh bespoke the same 

 truth, that there exists no correlation 

 between the presence of a lively color 

 and the quest of a sugary liquid by the 

 bees. I will cite but one. I disposed 

 squares of many colors on a uniform 

 green foundation of grass. The same 

 quantity of syrup or honev was placed 

 in the middle of each square. The bees 

 discovered these various depots of sweet 

 liquid in the same time without the 

 color influencing their search. Tlie red 



square on a green foimdation attracted 

 them no more than the plain green 

 square where the same amount of syrup 

 was to be had. 



The result of all my experiments was 

 the following: 



The development of colors in floral 

 organs and that of nectar are not con- 

 cordant. 



Under the same conditions the most 

 highly colored flowers are not the most 

 visited by insects. 



The visibility of flowers is not pro- 

 portioned to tlieir adaptation to cross 

 pollination. 



The insects go in the largest num- 

 bers where the nectar is the most 

 abundant, the richest in sugars, and the 

 easiest to take. 



The researches made by M. Felix 

 Plateau, professor of the University of 

 Gand, are important, his observations 

 most numerous, his experiments varied. 

 First he verified with many details 

 one of the points which I proved, that 

 bees show no preference or antipathy 

 for the diverse colors.which the flowers 

 of the different varieties of the same 

 species can present. 



But this Belgian scientist did not con- 

 tent himself with verifications. He 

 made artificial flowers, excellent imi- 

 tations, of paper or cloth, and the bees 

 did not visit them. He constructed 

 others of living leaves with the natural 

 vegetable odor. If he put honey in 

 them the bees visited these false green 

 flowers; if the honey was withdrawn 

 they ceased their visits. 



When the nectariferous part of the 

 natural flowers was removed, leaving 

 the brightly hued corolla, the insects 

 came no more on their quests. If, on 

 the contrary, the nectariferous flowers 

 were hidden beneath green foliage the 

 insects knew how to trace their in- 

 visible prize. 



Finally, M. Plateau placed a glass in 

 front of a nectariferous flower. If it 

 were the sight alone which guided the 

 insects they would go as soon to the 

 perfect image of the blossoms reflected 

 in the mirror as to the blossoms them- 

 selves. But the insects were unde- 

 ceived. Instead of striking against the 

 glass as they entered the room they 

 turned directly to the flowers as if the 

 mirror did not exist. 



The general conclusion of M. Pla- 

 teau 's researches is identical with that 

 which I formulated twenty-five years 

 ago; the insects are guided to the flow- 

 ers by another sense than vision and 

 which only can be smell. 



This does not say that it is the per- 

 fumes of the flowers which attract the 

 bees, because perfumed and nectarif- 

 erous flowers seem in general to be 

 without sensible result. 



It is not the fragrance such as we 

 conceive subjectively, it is a special, 

 subtle odor which permits the sugared 

 matter to be recognized. 



Indeed, substances which we cannot 

 recognize by their odor are found by 

 the bees. I have often made the fol- 

 lowing experiment — for example: Bits 

 of ordinary sugar, which have no ap- 

 preciable odor at a distance, are placed 

 in a dark pavilion, closed, where there 

 is no honey or objects having a special 



