1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



301 



A FAMOUS HONEY-PIiANT. 



THE CALIFORNIA SAGES. 



NOTICE in this month's Gleavings that one of 

 your California correspondents takes exception 

 to the many strange names that have been giv- 

 en to the white sage. He should have also added 

 that it has been unfaithfully illustrated in "Cook's 

 Manual," the ABC, and in the B. K. Maijazine. I 

 seed you a copy of the PMific Rural Press, which has 

 the only true representation of the leaves and flow- 

 ers of this plant. 'Tis true, it might have been bet- 

 ter; but when it is known that it was taken from 

 flowers picked in my garden in December, it can be 

 seen how fine a plant it may be made. 



N. Temescil, Cal., April 7, 18S3. W. A. "Pkyal. 



Not only is C.iliforriia famou? for its specimens of 

 vegetable growth of huge proportions, but also for 

 some of m\ich less imposing appearances. Among 

 the latter there is no plant that has made this State 

 more reno'vned than his the white or honey sage of 

 Southern Calif(n'nia. Hardly ten j'ears ag-o it was 

 looked upon as a useless shrub, scarcely tit for sheep 

 to browse upon. Since then the honfy-bee has made 

 it famous. When it became known that honey flow- 

 ed from the flowers of this plant, as it was never 

 known to do even in old Greece, and of a quality far 

 superior, thousands of cr>lonies of bees were located 

 in the sage region. During our favorable years 

 these bees gathered the honey from the flowers 

 about them in such large quantities that many an 

 ocean craft was weighted down with the nectar. 



To all parts of the world has this delicious article 

 been sent, and everywhere it has secured for the 

 place from whence it came, praises that no other 

 honey-land ever received. Besides the good words 

 this State has obtained by its excellent honej', the 

 people have received thousands of dollars which 

 would never have entered the State if the nectar 

 were wasted on the desert air. or if the plant In 

 question did not exist in our midst. 



THE FAMED HONEY - PLANT, THE WHITE SAGE OF 

 CALIFORNIA. 



The cut herewith shown gives a fair representa- 

 tion of a part of the sialk, the letves, and a single 

 flower of the white sasre, the flower being enlarged 

 to show its peculiar form. It belongs to the genus 

 Audibeitia, of the order Lahiata, to which also the 

 garden and other sages belong. 



These plants are of great value as bee pasturage, 

 as they are of easy growth, will thrive on drier soil 

 than most other honey-secreting plants, and their 



season of efflorescence continues many weeks. The 

 writer has cultivated the white sage in Alameda 

 County, near Berkelej', and as a result he finds that 

 it thrives remarkably, arrowing luxuriously <m culti- 

 vated soil, and producing an abundance of bloom. 

 It is a plant of which every apiarist should dissemi- 

 nate the seeds as much as pos^sible, so that in the 

 course of a few years large patches of the plants 

 may be found in the hills and valleys in various 

 parts of the State. By doing this, such a thing as a 

 short honey croD will hardly ever be known. 



The Rev. J. C. Nevin, of Los Anareles County, in 

 writing of the sages latelv, says: "There are at least 

 half a d<izen species of Audihcrtia on the coast, in- 

 cluded under the pf)pular nam^s of ' white ' and 

 * black ' sage. The • white ' {Audihcrtia pnlustnchya) 

 differs very much in the torni of inflorescence from 

 all the others, and from that of the yenuine sage. 

 Its whole appearance makes it a rather striking 

 plant, and, wtien once known, to he easily recogniz- 

 ed anywhere. Its rane^e extends from Santa Barba- 

 ra to San Dieffo. All lovers of the beautiful white 

 honey eathered from its flowers ought to know and 

 regard it with feelings of gratitude. 



"' Hall,' ' button.' or ' hiack ' saee, is undoubtedly 

 a cotnmon name for several distinct species. Their 

 general habit is mtich the same, whilst ordinarily 

 the spccifle distinctions may not be so otivious. The 

 whole appearance is more nearlv like the true sage 

 than is the ' white,' abr>vp mentioned. Of the num- 

 ber, A stachtjdideft, A. Palmeri, and A. Clcvdnndi are 

 very closely allied and most dilHcult t<> distinguish. 

 A. stachyiiidcs ranges from the Cotitra Costa Mount- 

 ains southward, while ^-1. Palmcri and A. Clevclandi 

 are confined to the southern part of the State. Just 

 what precise form prevails around Los Angeles has 

 not as yet been deflnitely settled; but it is mostly 

 near to, if not identical with. A- Pahneri, the typical 

 form of which is found in San Diego County."— Pa- 

 cific Rural Press, Jan. 13, 1883. 



CAN BEES FLY NINETY MILES .\N HOUR? 



SOMETHING FURTHER ON THE SUBJECT. 



/jpsv NE of the most dangerous sources of fallacy is 

 %M arguing in regard to matters concerning' 

 which our knowledge is incomplete. In the 

 May No. of Gleanings, Mr. Shuck takes Mr. Doo- 

 little severely to task for asserting that his bees can 

 fly ninety miles per hour. Mr. Shuck doubts this 

 statement, because a wind blowing ninety miles an 

 hour would blow Doolittle's hives out of his yard 

 like so much chaff. Granting the latter assertion 

 (which, however, has not been proved), it does not 

 necessarily follow that bees can not fly ninety miles 

 an hour, for we have other facts equally strong to 

 prove that they can. The wild duck has been known 

 to fly ninety miles an hour — its speed having been 

 measured by the electro-chronograph. The pigeon 

 has been known to exceed ninety miles an hour for 

 short distances. The question now is, Is the power 

 of flight of the bee equal to that of the duck or 

 pigeon ? 



Many years ago we experimented very carefully 

 on this subject. We found that very few pigeons 

 could carry their own weight in flight. Ducks we 

 could not procure under suitable conditions. Bees 

 easily carried their own weight, and sometimes even 

 1J£ times their own weight; showing that they were 

 proportionally much stronger in flight than pigeons. 

 ?, nd as our method of loading was more clumsy with 

 the bee than with the pigf on, we believe that two to 

 one in power is nearer the mark. If this be so, there 

 can be no a priori objection to the speed given by 

 Mr. Doolittle for the bee, if the pigeon can make 90 

 miles. It will be very difficult to tirne the bee, on 

 account of the difficulty of seeing it. It might be 

 timed by marking individuals as they fed, and tim" 

 ing them with good watches. Bees with a spot of 

 red, yellow, white, blue, and other marked colors 



