THE CLOVER BLOOMS. 77 



low sheep-cropped sward like that of the knap here ; 

 and it has learned in a marvellous fashion how to pro- 

 tect itself against all the dangers to which the life of a 

 fodder-plant is exposed in such difficult haunts. 



The clovers as a group, indeed, are well worth an 

 hour's study ; and this particular clover is certainly one 

 of the most interesting among them. I suppose it will 

 sound like a paradox to say that these little creeping 

 herbs rank as the most developed of all the pea-flower 

 tribe ; especially when one considers the tall tree-like 

 laburnums, acacias, and locusts of our shrubberies, or 

 the great stout-stemmed climbing wistaria on our garden- 

 walls : yet such is the fact. The clovers have undergone 

 a greater amount of modification to suit their special 

 habits than any other species amongst them all. They 

 are distinctly bee-flowers to a very high degree. Look 

 at that big blustering humble-bee down on the level 

 there : he is out this morning on a special hunt after 

 clover-honey ; for bees, like prudent human beings, never 

 mix their nectars ; they stick to one kind of flower at a 

 time, and probably (though this is not yet certain) store 

 each cell with a single sort of honey only. It is that 

 which gives the higher insects their value as fertilisers : 

 if they went about indiscriminately from one kind of 

 flower to another they would do no good at all, or else 

 would only produce monstrous and infertile hybrids. 

 There are many volatile insects that flit about in this 

 unconscious way from species to species ; and those are 

 the unwelcome visitors against which our flowers fortify 

 themselves with all sorts of hairs, prickles, bristles, and 

 scales. But now, on the other hand, just watch the 

 humble-bee over there. He goes soberly about in the 



