342 THE MODEL PLANT. 



from none to two, three or even four seeds. There is a marked 

 difference, as before observed, in the color of the seeds. 



Of some plants observed I give the following brief description : 



No. 1. Early, stems purplish, few and small, erect, quite 

 hairy, leaflets spotted, rather narrow, leaflets of the involucre 

 lance-elliptical. 



No. 8. Late, stems few, stout, sprawling, quite smooth, pur- 

 plish, leaflets rather narrow, with scarcely a trace of a spot. 



No. 17. Very late, stems long, of medium size, spreading, 

 green, quite hairy ; leaves light green, spot inconspicuous. 



No. 19. A seedling of dark seed, early, stems numerous, large, 

 tall, erect, smooth, purplish, leaflets rather broad, thick, very 

 dark green, with no trace of a spot ; flowers dark colored. 



The Model Plant. I have begun a few experiments in a very 

 small way by selecting and raising different races of red clover. 

 This variation in our fields is a broad hint at the results which 

 may be obtained by care and study. 



For the Northern States we need a red clover which starts 

 early, grows rapidly, has numerous erect, rather stout stems, 

 which are not large. If too woody, the stems make coarse fod- 

 der; if they contain too little woody matter, they will not be 

 stiff enough to stand up well. The plant should be rather hairy, 

 as such plants usually endure hot, dry weather best. The model 

 plant should seed freely, and to aid in this, if possible, the tube 

 of the flower should be short enough to permit honey bees to 

 reach the nectar. 



The tongue of a honey bee when stretched out is six to seven 

 millimeters in length, while the tube of the corolla of red 

 clover is nine to ten millimeters. It seems by this that 

 there is a wide breech to be gained in growth of tongue or shrink- 

 age of corolla before the honey bee can sip all the nectar from 

 the bottom of the tube of red clover. The tongue must elongate 

 one-third or the tube of the flower shorten as much. The occa- 



