44 
1. We should have no red clover seed at all were it not for the 
operations of the bumblebees and, secondarily, of the longer-tongued 
honey-bees (those of Italian races), for red clover is incapable of self- 
pollination. The importance of the bumblebee in the pollination of red 
clover is so well established as to need no discussion. • That of the 
honey-bee, however, is not sufficiently recognized. The honey-bee pol- 
lenizes red clover to some extent, even tho its tongue is two millimeters 
shorter than the average corolla tube. A field of red clover is always 
thronged with honey-bees if any of them are being kept within a mile 
or two of the place ; and these bees secure nectar from flowers that are 
undersized, especially in times of drought, when most of the flowers 
are smaller than usual ; also from flowers that secrete a copious amount 
of nectar. Furthermore, the honey-bees, in their attempts to get the 
nectar, go thru the motions of pollination whether they get any nectar 
or not, as I have ascertained. 
The lack of seed in the June or early July crop is generally at- 
tributed to the lack of bumblebees at that time, and rightly so, in my 
opinion. Occasionally, however, the farmer is surprised to find a pay- 
ing amount of seed in his first crop. This happened in Illinois in 1906 
and again in 1907 in various counties in all parts of the state, as I have 
learned from correspondence and from personal conversation with 
clover growers at the State Farmers' Institute and elsewhere. This 
early seed ran one to two bushels to the acre ; some of it was put on 
the market in Quincy, 111. Only two farmers ofifered any explanation 
for the production of clover seed at this untimely season, and they laid 
it to a "miller" that pollenized the flowers by night unobserved. This 
miller I am not acquainted with ; perhaps the honey-bees pollenized the 
flowers. 
Ordinarily, however, we do not expect to get seed from the June 
crop ; and by midsummer there are always enough bees to pollenize the 
flowers. The failure of the seed crop need not be laid to lack of pol- 
lination as yet. In the future, if bumblebees are constantly destroyed 
we may be obliged to cultivate them artificially — and this can be done, 
if necessary for the welfare of clover. The indiscriminate killing of 
bumblebees should be stopped. They are the best friends of the clover 
grower. 
2. The seed crop is diminished to some extent by various grass- 
hoppers, beetles, and caterpillars that eat the blossoms here and 
there, and sometimes the green seeds. They prevent pollination and 
destroy developing seeds in some measure, but can scarcely be guarded 
against, and need no special consideration. 
3. There are, however, three insects that must be guarded against 
if one wishes to raise a good crop of seed. These are the seed-midge, 
the seed-chalcid, and the seed-caterpillar. When clover blooms well, 
and there is good weather, the failure of the seed crop is to be charged 
to these three insects, the last of them being the least to blame, as a 
rule. All three can be controlled by simple methods described later, 
the most important of these being the early cutting of the hay crop. 
