238 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



Clover, (Alsike), (T. hybridum). This is sometimes 

 called Pink clover. It will grow on drier soil than most 

 clovers and is fully equal to the white for honey. It is 

 gaining in popularity as a pasture. 



Clover, (Crimson), (T. incarnatum). Easily the most 

 beautiful in form and colour of all the clovers. Grown 

 considerably in the "wet" districts for hay, also as a 

 garden plant. 



Clover, (Strawberry). {T. resupinatum L.). A 

 clover of creeping habit introduced to Australia from 

 Switzerland by a pastoralist on the banks of the Tarwin 

 Eiver, Victoria. It requires moist soil, in fact it will stand 

 water running over it — as it often has in South Gipps- 

 land. It grows very luxuriantly in some places and 

 yields pale delicately-flavoured honey. It is the latest 

 (autumn) clover to bloom, and the honey gathered from 

 it is equal in every respect to the clover honey of Great 

 Britain. 



Unfortunately the yield from colonies in the clover 

 districts is not large; 60 lbs. of pure clover honey per 

 colony is considered a fair average. This honey could 

 successfully compete with the clover honey of America, 

 Canada and New Zealand. At present it does not pay 

 to locate on purely clover country. There are a great 

 many other clovers, but the above are the principal ones, 

 which flower in the order given above. Red clover pollen 

 is of a dark distinctive green colour. 



Castor Oil Plant, {Ricinus comnmnis). Latterly 

 Queensland apiarists have been drawing attention to this 

 plant as a pollen producer. It is easily grown and yields 

 pollen throughout the year. The seeds if swallowed even 

 in small quantities are poisonous to stock. The plant 

 was known to the Egyptians over 4,000 years ago. 



Dandelion, {Taraxacum officinale L.). This plant is 

 now spread over the civilised world, the moist portions 

 at any rate. It does not grow so luxuriantly in Aus- 

 tralasia as it does in America, where the blossoms reach 

 a very large size — two or three inches in diameter. In 



