122 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



WHY THE BEE LIKES THE VIOLET 



Children and bees love the violets. Older 

 people seem to need highly scented or double 

 kinds, but the commonest road-side violets 

 are quite attractive enough to satisfy the 

 children, for they gather them by handfuls. 

 I have just asked a little girl why she is so 

 fond of them, and her answer is, "I like the 

 color," and that certainly is the bee's first 

 reason. Nectar is, of course, what he is 

 hunting, but, strange to say, he would al- 

 ways more gladly visit a blue flower to get 

 nectar than one of any other color. I have 

 seen bumblebees pass over gorgeous cannas 

 and gladioli as if they were nowhere in sight, 

 and hurry on to a tall, blue, mint-like plant 

 whose flowers would never have caught 

 my eye at half the distance at which their 

 gay neighbors arrested my attention im- 

 mediately. 



The hooded violet, that grows so com- 

 monly in our fields and by our road-sides, 

 has almost all the good qualities of the 

 family in general and a few of its own. 

 About the only one it lacks is the odor, 



