AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



19 



blooms in February, and beekeepers sometimes move their bees from a 

 distance to the almond orchards to build them up for the orange flow. 



ALSIKE CLOVER (Trifolium hybridum). Hybrid or Swedish Clover. 



Alsike clover is one of the very best honey plants of America. The 

 beekeeper who lives within reach of large fields of this crop is fortunate, 

 for there is no better honey, and under favorable conditions the crops 

 harvested from alsike are such as to give little ground for dissatisfaction. 

 Some beekeepers have estimated that alsike will produce 500 pounds of 

 honey per acre in a good season. — American Bee Journal, page 409, 1886. 



Alsike thrives on clay soil, or lands in- 

 clined to be wet, where the other clovers do 

 not succeed. It is sown very generally in a 

 meadow mixture with timothy or red-top. 

 In localities where grown for seed there is a 

 long period of bloom, which is greatly to the 

 advantage of the beekeeper. It is good for 

 either pasture or hay, and although by itself 

 alsike does not yield as many tons of hay per 

 acre as red clover, when mixed with red 

 clover the two together make more and bet- 

 ter hay than red clover does alone. 



Alsike is intermediate in size between 

 white and red clover. The blossom looks like 

 that of white clover, except it has a pinkish 

 tinge of color not found in the white clover. 

 The stem is upright and branched and on land 

 with sufficient moisture reaches a height of 

 two feet or more. 



While alsike will grow nearly everywhere 

 that red clover will grow, it thrives best in Fig. 9. Alsike clover. 



the northern part of the country. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, On- 

 tario and New York all report alsike as especially valuable to the bee- 

 keeper. 



The honey is white in color, mild in flavor and is regarded as one of 

 the best for table use. At times the yield is very heavy. In American Bee 

 Journal, Nov. 2, 1899, are given several instances of large yields from this 

 source. In one case a single colony of bees gathered 72 pounds in four 

 days, or 18 pounds per day. Another report was of 251 pounds in 21 days, 

 or 25 pounds per day, from alsike. 



In number two of the first volume of the "Review," Editor Hutchin- 

 son states that ten colonies of bees gathered 300 pounds of extracted honey 

 from alsike, with only two acres within reach. This, of course, takes no 

 account of the honey consumed by the bees, but indicates that the yield 

 is good for the acreage within reach. In the following number of the same 

 journal an Ontario beekeeper reports that he had not known a failure 

 from alsike in eight years. 



See also Clover. 



