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Beekeeping in the Clover Region. 9 
withering. The leaflets are larger than those of either of the other 
two clovers mentioned and have V-shaped lighter markings. In 
ordinary farm practice there are two separate blooming seasons, the 
first coinciding in time with that of alsike clover. When grazed the 
blooming season is extended until fall under favorable weather con- 
ditions. Unlike alsike clover, the usual farm practice is to cut the 
first crop for hay and then permit the plants to mature seed in the 
second crop. While because of the length of the corolla tube this 
species is best adapted for cross-pollination by bumblebees, no insect 
is of more importance in the setting of the seed than is the honeybee. 
When the mammoth red clover is grown the blooming season is pro- 
longed, as this variety comes into bloom from one to two weeks later 
than the common red clover. 
Because of the fact that the honeybee can not always reach the 
nectar in red clover, accurate data are unavailable as to the conditions 
best suited for nectar secretion in this species. In general, condi- 
tions favorable for nectar secretion in white and alsike clovers are 
also those under which red clover produces the most nectar. It 
is well known that the amount of nectar produced by the red-clover 
flowers is greater than that in the flowers of the other two clovers, 
and it is indeed unfortunate that the honeybee can not take full ad- 
vantage of this abundant source. The beekeeper usually does not 
credit red clover with the production of much nectar available to the 
honeybees, but it is doubtless true that where this species is grown it 
forms at least an important minor source of nectar, and probably 
much of the clover honey produced in the United States is partly 
derived from red clover. Usually the benefit from red clover is 
more noticeable from the second crop, it being believed that the 
shorter corolla tubes enable the honeybees to gather a larger pro- 
portion of the nectar. This is especially valuable to the beekeeper 
because at this time the secretion from white and alsike clovers has 
usually ceased. 
Red clover does not thrive in wet or cold soils, to which alsike clover 
is better adapted. It is losing ground as a farm crop, probably be- 
cause of an increasing deficiency of lime in the soils of the regions 
in which it was formerly more abundant. This is fortunate for the 
beekeeper, in that its place is being taken more and more by alsike 
clover, which is better adapted to visits of honeybees. 
While there is a gradual shifting in agricultural importance of the 
various clovers, the beekeper of the typical clover region has no cause 
for alarm, because more and more the farmers of this region are 
recognizing the necessity of growing crops which are capable of 
fixing nitrogen from the air, and so far no such crop has been found 
for this region which does not furnish abundant nectar. 
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