"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 141 



"The flower of the columbine is a unique and in- 

 teresting form. The sepals look like petals and 

 the petals are veritable horns of plenty filled with 

 nectar at the closed ends for the swarms of bees 

 which gather about. The sweets are produced by 

 the blossoms on a generous scale, and to a columbine 

 bed in full bloom the bees come, big and little, noisy 

 and silent all giddy with the feast. There is no 

 use trying to drive them away for they will not go. 

 Clumsy bumble bees with tongues long enough to 

 reach the honey by the open door, wise honey bees 

 who have learned to take the short road to the 

 nectar by biting through the spur, quiet brown bees, 

 little green carpenters all are there, 'vehement, 

 voluble, velvety,' in a glorious riot of happiness and 

 honey. 



"The doubling occurs chiefly with the petals; the 

 sepals, as a rule, hold true to the five, but the petals 

 sometimes double in number, becoming ten spurs in 

 place of five, and each spur becomes a nest of spurs 

 like a set of Chinese cups, though the innermost are 

 frequently imperfect." 



The columbine frequently appears in the paint- 

 ings of the Great Masters. Luini has immortalized 

 it in his picture of this title now in the gallery of 

 the Hermitage at Petrograd. A fascinating woman 



