2i8 The Golden Rule for Flowers 



by the wind, since it was blowing in the wrong 

 direction. 



The year that the holly-berries failed, the crop of 

 clover-seed failed also in some parts, and no doubt 

 from the same cause. For though some clovers 

 manage to fertilize themselves more or less, there is a 

 very marked difference in the quantity of seed borne 

 by the plants, according as they are kept covered, and 

 out of the way of insects, or not. 



A hundred heads of common red clover bear about 

 2,720 seeds among them ; but a hundred heads covered 

 with a net on one occasion, to keep off the bees, had 

 not one single seed. This common red clover has a 

 tube, too long to be sucked by the hive-bee until it has 

 been mown, when the second crop of blossoms are 

 said to be rather smaller, and its first crop is dependent 

 on the humble-bee. A very slight difference in length 

 makes just all the difference as to the species of bee 

 which is able to extract nectar from the blossom. The 

 brilliant crimson-clover is frequented by the hive-bee, 

 its tube being shorter than that of the common red 

 kind. 



Strawberry plants are altogether dependent upon 

 bees for the perfecting of their fruit, even where pollen 

 and ovules are produced in the same blossoms. In 

 one species of strawberry, the true Hautbois, they arel 

 borne by different plants ; and in the great market- 

 gardens of America, where this is grown, it is usual to 

 plant one row of barren plants to every three rows of 

 fertile ones, leaving the bees to do the rest. 



A great deal has to be done to ensure the thorough 

 fertilization of the strawberry-ovules, for there are 



