THE CLOVERS 59 



reach of the insects. Possibly the tubes are punctured by other 

 insects. It is usually in extremely dry seasons that red clover 

 honey is reported, and it may be that the unfavorable conditions 

 may serve to dwarf the plant to some extent. 



Although red clover produces nectar in great abundance, it 

 can hardly be regarded as a honey plant because of the inability 

 of the bees to gather it. 



Mammoth, or Pea-vine clover, is another form or variety 

 of red clover of a coarser or ranker growth. It is of little value 

 for the same reason ascribed to the other, although bees may 

 work on it slightly more than on the medium red variety. 



White Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba). — Sweet clover is one 

 of the best honey plants, and is very rapidly spreading into all 

 parts of the United States. It bids fair very shortly to outstrip 

 white clover in its total production, because of its wider range. 

 It thrives on the rich lands of Iowa and Illinois, along the irri- 

 gation ditches of the arid West, on the heavy soils of the South, 

 and the rocky farms of the East. It seems to thrive under a 

 greater variety of conditions and to flourish under greater adver- 

 sity than any other valuable forage plant. Farmers on high- 

 priced lands of the com belt are beginning to grow it in prefer- 

 ence to red clover, or timothy, for hay, while the farmers on 

 worn soils of the South and East are finding it to be a great soil 

 builder, as well as a profitable farm crop. The quantity of 

 forage produced from a given area is second to no other forage 

 plant, and the quality, if properly handled, is excellent. Even 

 in sections where it is regarded as a weed and consequently is not 

 encouraged, it is gradually taking possession of waste places along 

 railroads, highways, and unoccupied lands generally. 



White sweet clover, also called Bokhara clover, is a biennial, 

 seeding freely, and establishing itself readily under apparently 

 unfavorable conditions. 



The honey is light in color and spicy in flavor. By itself it is 

 a little strong for some palates, but when mixed with other honey 

 is of very fine quality. Sweet clover will one day stand at the 



