Regarding this noble mountain from a bee
point of view, encircled by its many climates, and sweeping aloft from
the torrid plain into the frosty azure, we find the first 5000 feet from
the summit generally snow-clad, and therefore about as honeyless as the
sea. The base of this arctic region is girdled by a belt of crumbling
lava measuring about 1000 feet in vertical breadth, and is mostly free
from snow in summer. Beautiful lichens enliven the faces of the cliffs
with their bright colors, and in some of the warmer nooks there are a
few tufts of alpine daisies, wall-flowers and pentstemons; but,
notwithstanding these bloom freely in the late summer, the zone as a
whole is almost as honeyless as the icy summit, and its lower edge may
be taken as the honey-line. Immediately below this comes the forest
zone, covered with a rich growth of conifers, chiefly Silver Firs, rich
in pollen and honey-dew, and diversified with countless garden openings,
many of them less than a hundred yards across. Next, in orderly
succession, comes the great bee zone. Its area far surpasses that of the
icy summit and both the other zones combined, for it goes sweeping
majestically around the entire mountain, with a breadth of six or seven
miles and a circumference of nearly a hundred miles.
Pages:
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406