GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



sects .... has been successfully vindicat- 

 ed." Granting that it has been proven that 

 bees can distingiiish some colors, it does not 

 by any means follow that it has been proven 

 that the coloi-s of flowers are designed to 

 attract bees or other insects, or, in fact, that 

 they have any attraction for them. I have 

 never been able to reconcile myself to this 

 theory, although it is one that is almost 

 universally accepted by botanists. 



It is but a forlorn hope to attack a citadel 

 so strongly garrisoned by the wise ones of 

 the world, but I will at least throw my little 

 pebble. I shall not attempt to make an 

 exhaustive review of the subject, but will 

 point out one or two particulars in which it 

 seems to me the theory does not agree with 

 well-known facts. One of these is that 

 many of the most beautifully colored and 

 elaborately marked blossoms seem to have 

 no attraction for bees, which visit them but 

 little or not at all. The counterpart of this 

 is that the blossoms most visited by bees 

 are usually very inconspicuous in their col- 

 orings and markings. 



The popular idea on the subject of honey- 

 gathering is well expressed by the poet who 

 wrote of the bee that " gathers honey all the 

 day from every opening flower." Only the 

 practical apiarist knows how comparatively 

 few are the varieties of blossom.s that are 

 of much value to the bee. While bees work 

 to a gi'eater or less extent on a great num- 

 ber of flowers, those that are most attractive 

 to them, and from which the world's supply 

 of honey is gathered, do not make a very 

 long list. What are the principal sources of 

 honey supply? In the United States and 

 Canada, white clover, sweet clover, linden, 

 heartsease, buckwheat, sage, alfalfa. All of 

 these, with the exception of alfalfa, are 

 white, tinged with low tones of green, yel- 

 low, and red. White clover and heartsease 

 are greenish white, more or less tinted with 

 red. Sweet clover and buckwheat are green- 

 ish white. Linden, or basswood, is yellow- 

 ish white. 



The sages and mints in general, such as 

 horesemint, pennyroyal, catnip, etc., are, as 

 a rule, very modest in their coloring. So 

 are willow, orange, raspberry, cotton, man- 

 grove, catclaw, mesquite, locust, and other 

 members of the acacia family. So too are 

 the heather of Europe, the campanilla of 

 Cuba, the log'wood of the tropics, and many 

 other plants of greater or less renown as 

 honey-producers. T might go on and extend 

 to great length the list of flowers that are 

 favorites with the bees, yet are neither bril- 

 liant in hue nor conspicuous in their mark- 

 ings. 



We are told that blue and violet flowers 



are preferred by the bees; yet among the 

 blossoms that are good yielders of nectar, 

 and so more attractive to bees, red tones are 

 far more common than blue ones. Alfalfa, 

 the blossoms of which range in color from 

 light blue to deep violet, is the one conspic- 

 uous example that comes to my mind of a 

 blue blossom that yields much nectar. But 

 the bees do not visit the deeply colored ones 

 any more than the light ones. Neither do 

 they visit flowers of other tints. The blos- 

 soms of an ajDple-orchard vary from pure 

 white to a deep pink; yet the bees show no 

 preference, and the white blossoms of the 

 Ben Davis are as well fertilized as the pink 

 blossoms of the Winesap. But, according 

 to the experiments of K. V. Frisch, bees 

 cannot distinguish red, so that markings in 

 this color or variations in its tints are not 

 to be considered, even according to the color 

 theory, as influencing the attractiveness of 

 blossoms to bees; and all blossoms so color- 

 ed or marked are to he considered as of 

 neutral tint, so far as bees are concerned. 

 So alsike clover, with is deeper tints of red, 

 is no more attractive to bees than its white 

 cousin, and the still deeper tones of red 

 clover are not in the least attractive to bees 

 until its flower tubes are filled nearly to the 

 brim with nectar. 



Can it be possible that the blossoms have 

 been working in different directions in their 

 development? Have some adopted bright 

 colors and varied marking's to attract in - 

 sects while others have followed the more 

 practical plan of rewarding their winged 

 helpers with generous supplies of nectar 

 instead of painted promises? 



If so, the latter would seem to have the 

 best of it, so far as the bees are concerned. 



Grand Junction, Col. 



[Our correspondent is usually very accu- 

 rate, and it is seldom that we can pick a flaw 

 in his logic or his facts; but on this propo- 

 sition, at least, we believe his facts support 

 rather than disprove the old theory that 

 colors are designed to attract insects rather 

 than otherwise. 



Our correspondent makes the point that 

 blossoms most visited by bees are usually 

 very inconspicuous in color and markings. 

 In this he is absolutely right. If that is 

 true, does it not contradict the color theory? 

 Not at all. Flowers have two ways — yes, 

 and we might add a third — ^of attracting 

 bees and insects so as to bring about cross- 

 pollination. First and foremost is nectar; 

 next, color; third, pollen. Som.etimes the 

 flowers employ all three methods. Where 

 cross-pollination is very important we some-, 

 times find the complete combination. The 

 blossoms that yield the largest amount of 



