78 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



most business-like manner from head to head of the red 

 clover only, taking no notice at all of the creamy Dutch 

 clover that grows in and out among it, nor of this little 

 creeping variety that covers the surface of the hummock 

 here. For a moment now he sniffs suspiciously at an- 

 other red flower among the grass, much like his favourite 

 for the day in tone of colour ; but it turns out to be only 

 a vetch ; and he sails away with an obvious air of dis- 

 gust, like one distracted from pressing business for a 

 while by a bit of idle inquiry. Now he is buried deep 

 in another head of red clover, sucking the honey quickly 

 from each ripe purple floret, one after another, and 

 passing by the over-ripe ones at once, without even a 

 glance, like an experienced workman that he is. 



Indeed, this particular English red clover is so wholly 

 specialised to suit our own humble-bees that it cannot 

 set its seed without them. The proboscis of the hive-bee 

 is not long enough to reach the honey. In New Zealand, 

 for many years it has been necessary to import clover- 

 seed for each crop from England, because there were no 

 humble-bees in the colony ; and so seriously has the 

 want of these useful fertilisers been felt that several 

 attempts have been made, not very successfully as yet, 

 to acclimatise them in the islands. That is perhaps one 

 of the most remarkable practical applications of what 

 seems at first sight purely otiose scientific knowledge 

 that has ever yet been made. I think it is Professor 

 Huxley who quaintly remarks somewhere that the fer- 

 tility of the clover in any district ultimately depends in 

 part upon the number of old maids. For the clover is 

 fertilised by the bees ; but the bees, again, are greatly 

 thinned by harvest-mice ; and the harvest-mice in turn 



