652 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



THE CLOVERS 



Teacher's Story 



"Sweet by the roadside, sweet by the rills, 

 Sweet in the meadows, sweet on the hills, 

 Sweet in its wine, sweet in its red, 

 Oh, half of its sweetness cannot be said; 

 Sweet in its every living breath, 

 Sweetest, perhaps, at last, in death." 



-"A Song of Clover", HELEN HUNT JACKSON. 



Clover has for centuries been a most valu- 

 able forage crop ; and for eons it has been the 

 special partner of the bees, giving them honey 

 for their service in carrying its pollen; and in 

 recent years it has been discovered that it has 

 also formed a mysterious and undoubtedly an 

 ancient partnership with bacteria below 

 ground, which, moreover, brings fertility to the 

 soil. The making of a collection of the clovers 

 of a region is a sure way of enlisting the pupils' 

 interest in these valuable plants. The species 

 have some similarities and differences, which 

 give opportunity for much observation in 

 comparing them. There may be found in 

 most localities the white and yellow sweet 

 clovers, the black and spotted medics and 

 their relative the alfalfa; while of the true 

 clovers there are the red, the zigzag, the 

 buffalo, the rabbit's foot, the white, the alsike, 

 the crimson, and two yellow or hop clovers. 



In all the clovers, those blossoms which are 

 lowest, or on the outside of the head, blossom first, and all of them have 



Drawn by Ida Baker. 



Crimson clover; just beginning to blossojn at the left, 



more advanced at the middle, and at the end of 



its bloom at the right. 



Photo by G. F. Morgan. 



