658 Handbook of Nature-Study 



THE WHITE CLOVER 

 Teacher's Story 

 \HE sweet clover should be studied first, for after 

 making this study it is easier to understand the 

 blossoming of the white and the red clover. In 

 the sweet clovers, the flowers are strtrng along the 

 stalk but in the red, the white, and many others, it 

 is as if the blossom stalk were telescoped, so that 

 the flowers are all in one bunch, the tip of the stalk 

 making the center of the clover head. We use the 

 white clover in our lawns because of a peculiarity of its stem, 

 which, instead of standing erect, lies flat on the ground, send- 

 ing leaves and blossoms upward and thus making a thick carpet over the 

 ground. The leaves are very pretty; and although they grow upon the 

 stems alternately, they always manage to twist around so as to lift their 

 three leaflets upward to the light. The three leaflets are nearly equal in 

 size, with fine, even veins and toothed edges; and each has upon it, near 

 the middle a pale, angular spot. The white clover, in common with other 

 clovers, has the pretty habit of going to sleep at night. Botanists may 

 object to this human term, but the great Linnaeus first called it sleep, and 

 we may be permitted to follow his example. Certainly the way the clover 

 leaves fold at the middle, the three drawing near each other, looks like 

 going to sleep, and is one of the things which even the little child will 

 enjoy observing. 



The clover head is made up of many little flowers; each one has a 

 tubular calyx with flve delicate points and a little stem to hold it up into 

 the world. In shape, the corolla is much like that of the sweet pea, and 

 each secretes nectar at its base. The outside blossoms open first; and as 

 soon as open, the honey bees, which eagerly visit white clover wherever it 

 is growing, begin at once their work of gathering nectar and carrying 

 pollen ; as soon as the florets are pollenated they wither and droop below 

 the flower-head. 



"Where I made One, turn down an empty Glass." 

 Sings old Omar, and I alwaj^s think of it when I see the turned-down 

 florets of the white-clover blossom. But in this case the glass is not 

 empty, but holds the maturing seed. This habit of the white clover 

 flowers saves the bees much time, since only those which need pollenating 

 are lifted upward to receive their visits. The length of time the little 

 clover head requires for the maturing of its blossoms depends much upon 

 the weather and upon the insect visitors. 



White clover honey is in the opinion of many the most delicious honey 

 made from any flowers except, perhaps, from orange blossoms. So 

 valuable is the white clover as a honey plant, that apiarists often grow 

 acres of it for their bees. 



LESSON CLXVIII 



The White Clover 



Leading thought — The white clover has creeping stems. Its flowers 

 depend upon the bees for their pollination, and the bees depend upon the 

 white clover blossoms for honey. 



