238 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



Dinner — Soup with a small piece of 

 tough beef, coarse turnips and no 

 potatoes. 



Supper — Soup again, with two 

 slices of bread. 



Red Clovei as a Honey Plant 



By Frank C. Pellett 



THERE have been so many con- 

 flicting statements regarding 

 the question as to whether or 

 not the honeybee is able to secure 

 honey from red clover (Trifolium pra- 

 tcnse), that it has seemed worth while 

 to investigate the subject with some 

 care. There have been so many re- 

 ports of honey from this source, that 

 it is desirable to learn whether the 

 honey did come from red clover, or 

 whether the beekeepers have been 

 mistaken, and some explanation of 

 the confusion is necessary. There is 

 no question but that the plant se- 

 cretes nectar in abundance, but since 

 the corolla tubes are much longer 

 than the tongues of the bees, they 

 are unable to reach it under ordinary 

 conditions. It is a well-known fact 

 that plants behave very differently 

 under different climatic conditions, 

 so an effort has been made to secure 

 evidence from as many localities as 

 possible, and from a great variety of 

 conditions. 



In Iowa the writer has sometimes 

 found bees working freely on red 

 clover in extremely dry seasons. At 

 such times, the bees were apparently 

 getting some nectar, although it could 

 not be detected in the hive. How- 

 ever, one. year Mr. C. H. True, of 

 Edgewood, Iowa, had on exhibition 

 at the State Fair a generous quantity 

 of honey which he thought was se- 

 cured from red clover. It was slight- 

 ly tinted with red, and had a flavor 

 different from white or alsike clover 

 honey. The explanation often given 

 is that in dry seasons the florets are 

 somewhat dwarfed, and because of 

 the shorter tube the bee is able to 

 reach the honey. Dr. L. H. Pammel, 

 botanist at the Iowa College of Agri- 

 culture, has made a special study of 

 bees and red clover under Iowa con- 

 ditions. After having many meas- 

 urements made, he has reached the 

 conclusion that the effect on the 

 length of the corolla tube, as a result 

 of drought, is so slight that the bee 

 would not be able to reach the nectar 

 from this cans,-. He goes on record 

 as follows : 



"I have for several years closely ob- 

 sei Vi d honeybees and reel clover, and 

 from these observations I am still 

 inclined to the opinion, earlier ex- 

 pressed, that honeybees do not get 

 nectar from tin- flowers of the reel 

 clover, notwithstanding the opinion 

 of many beekeepers in Iowa." (Third 

 report Iowa State Bee Inspector.) 



At the 1917 convention of the Illi- 

 nois Beekeepers, Mr. frank Bishop, 

 of Virden, reported that one season 

 he secured an average of 100 pounds 

 per colony from 150 colonies, from 

 red clover. According to his 

 ment, there was no other bloom 

 within reach at that time. He further 

 stated that he visited the red clover 



fields, investigated the matter care- 

 fully, and was fully satisfied that red 

 clover was the source of the honey. 



So many reports from well-known 

 beekeepers are to be found in our lit- 

 erature, that it seems worth while to 

 quote several of them, together with 

 the place where the reference is to be 

 found. Mr. Wm. McEvoy, of Wood- 

 burn, Ontario, wrote to Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture, page 486, 1907, as fol- 

 lows : 



"In September, 1905, I extracted 

 over 3,000 pounds of pure red clover 

 honey, after giving the bees plenty to 

 winter on. This honey was a light 

 amber color, and good in flavor, and 

 sold for the same price as honey 

 gathered from white clover. My bees, 

 being Italians, worked well on tin 

 second crop of red clover, which was 

 not injured by the midge in my lo- 

 cality, in 1905, on account of the first 

 crop being cut early." 



Adrian Getaz, of Knoxville, Term., 

 makes the following contribution to 



Red Clover Blossoms. 



the subject in Gleanings, page 660, 

 1909.: 



"In regard to bees gathering nectar 

 from red clover, several opinions 

 have been advanced. Generally it is 

 supposed that owing to drier 

 weather, the second crop has blos- 

 soms with shorter corollas, and that 

 t he bees can reach the nectar on that 

 account. Another theory is that the 

 nectar is more abundant, and tills up 

 the corollas better, and thus comes 

 within reach of the bees. A German 

 apiarist a few years ago undertook 

 to settle the matter, and spent a part 

 of the summer lying down in the 

 clover fields to see how it was. He 

 reported that very few insects take 

 the nectar through the corollas: but 

 some kinds cut a bole near the hot 

 torn and help themselves through it. 

 I In' hole once made, a number of in- 

 ei i including bees, take advantage 

 of it ; and if the bees do not work on 

 'li' In -t CI Op, it is because there are 

 few hole-boring insects present." 



line follows a brief report with 

 nothing to indicate whether the bees 

 were seeking nectar or pollen: 



"Last year was very dry and there 

 was scarcely any white clover in 



blossom here ; but the bees went 

 fairly wild on the red clover, and it 

 was the first crop, too." (J. F. Brady, 

 Deertield, Minn. Gleanings, page 149 

 1911.) 



That the subject is not new will be 

 found by examining the files of tin- 

 bee magazines of many years ago. 

 Apparently it has been a contro- 

 verted subject since beekeeping has 

 Tieen followed seriously in America. 

 In the first volume of the American 

 Bee Journal, page 228. 1861, we find 

 the following: 



"I noticed, in August and the be- 

 ginning of September, while the bees 

 were gathering honey from buck- 

 wheat that they obtained pollen of a 

 brownish color from some source. 

 On investigating the matter I found 

 that they collected it from red clover. 

 This somewhat surprised me, as I 

 had never seen them gathering honey 

 from the red clover to such an ex- 

 tent, particularly while other forage 

 was plenty. * * * I have also no- 

 ticed that the bees visited only those 

 heads that were imperfect, the tubes 

 . being shorter in consequence." 



The principal interest attached to 

 the above is the statement that the 

 bees visited only the imperfect blos- 

 soms. On page 9 of the same volume 

 is a statement somewhat similar, re- 

 ported in one of the German jour- 

 nals, of Italian bees getting honey 

 from red clover, in 1858. It is said 

 that the season was very dry and the 

 blossoms somewhat smaller as a re- 

 sult. 



In 1899, page 15, American Bee 

 Journal, we find another report of 

 bees working on it in dry weather: 



"My bees work more or less on it 

 almost every year during hot and drv 

 weather; but it does not produce as 

 fine honey as white clover: when 

 candied it is coarser grained, and has 

 a water-soaked appearance. I wish 

 that my bees would let it alone, for 

 we have plenty of white clover when 

 the redis in bloom" (Fred Bechle, 

 Poweshiek County, Iowa.) 



Again, on page 27 of the same is- 

 sue, Theo, Rehorst, of Fond du Lac 

 County, Wisconsin, reports : 



"The mammoth red clover produces 

 good honey and all our honeybees 

 can reach the nectar, although the 

 corolla is far longer and deeper than 

 the common red clover. I never saw 

 any honey from common red clover; 

 onlv thin, red stuff, thin as water." 



In 1903, E. F. Hasty, of Ohio, wrote, 

 in the American Bee lournal, that 

 while he admitted that bees worked 

 freely on red clover at times, he was 

 extremely doubtful about their abil 

 ity to get much honey from it. The 

 same doubt has been expressed by 

 numerous observers from time to 

 time, the usual explanation being that 

 the bees are gathering pollen, rather 

 than nectar. 



' in pagi 491 of the 1903 volume of 

 the American Bee Journal is reported 

 an interesting case of honeydew from 

 red clover. Since it is the only case 

 of the kind found in all the litera- 

 ture consulted it is quoted quite 

 fully: 



"Foi about ten days my bees have 

 been bringing in honey from the 



