Cultivated-Plant Study 



655 



Spotted medic. 



sufficiently long tongues to reach the nectar. 

 It is, therefore, dependent upon this bee for 

 developing its seed, and the enlightened farmer 

 of to-day looks upon the bumblebees as his 

 best friends. The export of clover seed from 

 the United States has sometimes reached the 

 value of two million dollars per year, and this 

 great industry can only be carried on with the 

 aid of the bumblebee. There are sections of 

 New York State where the growing of clover 

 seed was once a most profitable business, but 

 where now, owing to the dearth of bumblebees, 

 no clover seed whatever is produced. 



LESSON CLXVI 

 THE CLOVERS 



Leading thought The clovers enrich with nitrogen the soil in which 

 they are planted. They are very valuable as food for stock; and their 

 flowers are pollenated by bees. 



Method Each pupil should dig up a root of red clover or alfalfa to use 

 for the lesson on the nodules. The flowers should be studied in the field, 

 and also in detail in the schoolroom. 



Observations i. How many kinds of clover do you know? How 

 many of the medics ? 



2. In all clovers, which flowers of the head blossom first, those on the 

 lower or outside, or those on the upper or inside ? 



3. Take up a root of red clover or alfalfa, noting how deep it grows. 

 Wash the root free from soil, and find the little swellings on it. Write the 

 story of what these swellings do for the clover, and incidentally for the 

 soil. 



4. How must the soil be prepared so that afalfa may grow success- 

 fully ? AVhat does the farmer gain by feeding alfalfa, and why? 



5. How do clover roots protect the land from being washed by heavy 

 rains? 



6. How do clovers keep the soil moist? How does this aid the 

 farmer ? 



7. What is a cover crop, and what are its uses? 



8. Upon what insects does the red clover depend for carrying pollen? 

 Can it produce seed without the aid of these valuable bees? Why not? 



SWEET CLOVER 



Teacher's Story 



In passing along the country roads, especially those which have 

 suffered upheaval from the road machines, suddenly we are conscious of 

 a perfume so sweet, so suggestive of honey and other delicate things, 

 that we involuntarily stop to. find its source. Close at hand we find this 

 perfume laboratory in the blossoms of the sweet clover. It may be 

 the species with white blossoms, or the one with yellow flowers; but 

 the fragrance is the same. There stands the plant, lifting its beautiful 



