480 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



According to Schuebeler, who made 

 many observations, the flowers and 

 fiuits of Scandanavia are brighter col- 

 ored and have a stronger fragrance 

 than those in lower altitudes. Suffi- 

 cient evidence has been given to show 

 that the conditions in mountainous or 

 Alpine sections, and in northern re- 

 gions, are very similar, and affect the 

 flowers in both regions in much the 

 same way. 



Altitude and Nectar Secretion 

 At this point, before inquiring into 

 the agencies aff'ecting nectar secre- 

 tion, let us e.stablish the fact that flow- 

 ers at high elevations and high lati- 

 tudes tend to secrete nectar more 

 freely than in opposite situations. 

 Mueller states that in the lowlands the 

 spur of an orchid (Platanthera solsti- 

 alis) was only about a third filled with 

 nectar, but that in the Alps it was 

 over half full. According to Bonnier 

 and Flahault Silene inflate, one of the 



pink family, was much richer in nectar 

 at an elevation of .5,89.5 feet than at 

 an elevation of 1,300 feet. They also 

 cite the statistics gathered by the 

 French Department of the Pyrenees, 

 from which it would appear that the 

 average honey production per colony 

 was from sea-level to 1,000 feet, 6 

 lbs. 10 oz., and that with every rise of 

 1,000 feet it increased from 2 to 4 

 pounds per colony, until at 4,000 to 

 5,000 feet it was 19 lbs. 13 oz. ("Al- 

 penblumen, p. 564). It is difficult to 

 decide just how much importance is 

 to be attached to these figures in the 

 absence of full data, but they certain- 

 ly point to a more abundant nectar 

 secretion with an increase in altitude. 

 In California, Dr. Phillips was in- 

 formed by several prominent beekeep- 

 ers that with an increase of altitude 

 the sages yielded larger crops of 

 honey. According to Mr. Frank C. 

 Pellett, in this State, the sage flow is 



reported to be much more dependable 

 at higher elevations. Mr. M. C. Rich- 

 ter, the well-known author of the 

 Bulletin on California Honey Plants, 

 writes, "There is a great deal of evi- 

 dence pointing to a more profuse nee- 



Blossoms of the heather. This shnih covers thousands of acres of moorland in .Scandinavia 

 and Great Britain. In Kngland, during a two-years record, a hive on scales showed the 

 greatest yield on a day which began with a heavy early morning frost. 



Blossoms of alfalfa 



tar secretion at higher elevations." A 

 beekeeper at Grand Junction, Colo., in 

 June, 1919, wrote to the author that 

 while three of his apiaries were get- 

 ting barely enough nectar to keep 

 them alive, three others 1,800 feet 

 higher and 35 miles away, had filled 

 the supers, and he was extracting a 

 good crop. "In the lower valleys al- 

 falfa has not amounted to much for 

 some years, and most of the honey has 

 been secured after August 1." 



On the effect of altitude on the se- 

 cretion of nectar by alfalfa, in Kan- 

 sas, some very interesting observa- 

 tions have been made by Mr. A. V. 

 Small, of Augusta. He writes: 

 "Where the river valley of the Kan- 

 sas River is above 1,000 feet, alfalfa 

 in Kansas is one of the major honey 

 plants; but, where the valley is below 

 1,000 feet it is one of the minor honey 

 plants, practically ceasing to yield be- 

 tween 800 and 900 feet." The valley 

 at Topeka has an elevation of about 

 900 feet and here alfalfa is valueless 

 as a source of nectar. Fifty miles 

 westward, Manhattan, on the same 

 river, has an elevation of 1,000 feet, 

 and bees work on alfalfa freely. The 

 1,000-foot elevation line runs from 

 Atchison, in the northwest corner, in 

 a very irregular series of curves and 

 loops to Sedan, near the south border 

 line. Small says that he has checked 

 the effect of altitude on nectar secre- 

 tion back and forth across this line 

 iind the conclusion given above holds 

 ■i\ith remarkable accuracy. 



Why does alfalfa in eastern Kan- 

 sas cease to yield nectar between 800 

 and 900 feet, but becomes a good 

 honey plant above 1,000 feet? As it 

 would seem that so small a difference 

 in altitude could not so greatly aflTect 

 nectar secretion, it is of much inter- 



