4 Farmers’ Bulletin 1215. 
GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES OF THE CLOVER 
REGION. 
The typical clover region occupies the northeastern part of the 
United States, extending west into Minnesota and south approxi- 
mately to the Ohio River and Mason and Dixon’s Line. It appears 
on the west coast in Washington and Oregon. In both east and west 
the region extends into Canada, some of the best portions being 
located north of the national boundary. Limited areas of less value 
are found outside the boundaries indicated. 
It must not be assumed, however, that these plants are equally 
valuable to the beekeeper throughout the area indicated; for, as 
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Fig. 1.—Map of clover region showing boundary (heavy black line) of area covered 
by the last glacier. The best areas for nectar secretion from the clovers are 
those formerly covered by glacial lakes (shaded from right to left), when properly 
drained and those of the Middle West (shaded from left to right), where the soils 
are derived by glacial action from rocks containing limestone. Undrained swamps 
are useless as clover areas. 
will be pointed out later, nectar secretion of these species is influenced 
by many factors, and as a result there are many places in the area 
here indicated in which the plants are almost valueless for nectar 
secretion. In general, the farther north one goes the better the 
secretion becomes from these species. Most of the best clover terri- 
tory lies in the area covered by the last glacier (fig. 1) and the best 
of the clover region lies in western Vermont, northern and central 
New York, northwestern Ohio, northern Indiana, and Illinois, Michi- 
gan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa. While these 
clovers are found in all parts of the United States, except in the arid 
regions, the beekeeper outside the best areas may not look to them as 
sources of nectar, except possibly as minor contributing sources. The 
discussion in this bulletin is applicable only to those places where 
they are major sources of honey. 
