POLLINATION OF CLOVER. 



BY L. H. PAMMEL AND CHARLOTTE M. KING. 



It has frequently been stated by scientific investigators that insects 

 are necessary to convey the pollen in cross fertilization of red clover. 

 The opinion is often expressed by clover growers and some popular 

 writers that insects are not necessary to secure pollination of red clover. 

 The following by Henry Wallace is a fair statement of the position 

 taken by quite a number of agricultural writers.^ 



"We have been inclined to account for the failure of red clover to 

 produce a crop of seed by the fact that the growth is rank and there- 

 fore, like all other plants that produce rank foliage, is not a heavy 

 seed or fruit producer. We have therefore been inclined to think that 

 the yield of clover seed is determined by climatic conditions rather 

 than the presence or absence of bees or insects. For ourselves, we shall 

 have to give up our belief in the insect fertilization of clover until we 

 have further and conclusive evidence." 



]Mr. Wallace's statement is based, in part on remarks made by Garton 

 to him that the red clover is self-fertile. ^NIcAlpine- referred to Gar- 

 ton's work in a paper in Botanical Society, which was not available in 

 the preparation of this paper. We will see later that the observations 

 of Garton are not conclusive, that clover is self-pollinated. 



PammeP in 1889 published a statement on the pollination of red 

 clover and has since given some attention to the subject.* Darwin" 

 many years ago, recorded an experiment in which it was shown that 

 self-pollination did not occur. Subsequently Herman Mueller® recorded 



'Wallace's Farmer. Sept. 3, '09. 

 ^Edinburgh Bot. Society. 1000:14. 

 'Trans. St. Louis Academy of Science. 5:290. 

 ^Ecology. 169-173. 



^Origin of Species. Chapter III. Self and Cross Fertilization in the Vege- 

 table Kingdom. 6 Ed. Murray 1876:75. 



'Befruchtung der Blumen. English Trans., Fertilization of Flowers. 184-186. 



