NECTAR PRODUCTION 
131 
It was found by making tests with Fehling's solution and 
weighing the precipitates that a gram of mature alfalfa blos- 
soms contains about 34 mg. of sugar, while a gram of the buds 
just unopened contains about 20 mg. and a gram of the leaves 
only about 6 mg. Of the 84 mg. in the blossoms, only about one 
part in 29 was outside the floral organs in the form of nectar 
in material collected in the morning before insects had worked. 
White sweet clover contained as the average of numerous tests 
18 mg. of sugar 'per gram of blossoms, or only half as much as 
in alfalfa. But of this, one ninth or 2 mg. is available as nectar 
— nearly double the amount available in alfalfa. The available 
nectar was estimated by shaking a weighed quantity of blossoms 
for half an hour in distilled water and then testing the- water. 
Some plants evi.dently nectariferous, such as the green milk- 
weed, are much visited by wasps and almost wholly neglected 
by bee^s. Perhaps the nectar is not to their liking. Some flow- 
ers are, of course, so constructed that certain insects cannot 
obtain nectar from them. But one that has the tube apparently 
much too long for the honey bee, namely the horse mint, is 
visited by this bee with such earnestness as to lead the ob- 
server to conclude that something worth while must be obtained. 
Our work will be continued this summer along lines that 
seem hopeful in contributing to our knowledge of nectar produc- 
tion and its bearing upon apiculture. 
Leander Clark College. 
