112 FOOD OF BEES. 
In some other flowers, as in the Fritillaria imperialis, the 
nectar contains as much as nine- 
ty-five per cent of water. If 
we except dry and warm days, 
we can safely assert that, in most 
cases, the proportion of water 
in the nectar varies between 
sixty and eighty per cent. 
250. The quantity of nec- 
tar produced by the flowers 
decreases during drought, and 
increases on the first or sec- 
ond day after a rain. But it 
is then more watery. In some 
seasons the saccharine juices 
abound, while in others they 
are so deficient that bees can 
obtain scarcely any food from 
fields all white with clover. A 
change in the secretion of honey 
will often take place so sud- 
denly, that the bees will, in a 
few hours, pass from idleness 
to great activity. 
As arule, the quantity of nectar, exuded by the plants, 
varies according to the time of day and atmospheric condi- 
tions. Usually, it is most abundant in the morning. Its 
quantity decreases as the sun rises higher. At three 
o’clock in the afternoon, the flowers give the least nectar. 
Then the yield again increases tilldark. In Algeria, Africa, 
in the neighborhood of Blidah, bees cannot find honey later 
than eight in the morning. 
251. It is waen the blossom is ready for fertilization, 
that the nectar is most abundant in it; if it is not gathered 
by insects, it is re-absorbed by the plant and serves, 
Fig. 41. 
FUSCHIA. 
