ALSIKE CLOVER 1 97 



As a honey plant, alsike clover is without a rival 

 among clovers, unless it be in the small white vari- 

 ety. It is a great favorite with beekeepers. Many 

 of them sow it to enable them to furnish pastures 

 for their bees. The bloom remains for a relatively 

 long period. The honey is also accessible to the 

 common honey bee, since the branches are numerous 

 on the stems, and since each branch bears a head, 

 the flower heads are relatively quite numerous. 

 Since the honey is accessible to the common bee, pol- 

 lination in the plants is assured; hence, the failures 

 in the seed crop are few, and when other conditions 

 are favorable, seed production is abundant. Be- 

 cause of the many good qualities of this clover it is 

 deservedly a favorite wherever it can be successfully 

 grown. \\'hen in full bloom, a field of alsike clover 

 is a very beautiful sight. The flowers are a pale 

 white at first, but gradually they deepen into a beau- 

 tiful pink of tinted shades, and their fragrance is 

 fully equal to their beauty. 



Distribution. — Alsike clover is found in Europe, 

 Northern Africa and W'estern Asia. In these it 

 has been cultivated for a long time, but its favorite 

 home in the Old W'orld would seem to be in North- 

 ern Europe. It would doubtless be correct to say 

 that it is indigenous to Europe, and probably that 

 it is indigenous to each of the three continents 

 named. It is not indigenous to America, but was 

 introduced into the same probably from Great 

 Britain or Scandinavia. In some parts of North 

 America it grows with a luxuriance equal to, if not, 

 indeed, greater, than that sho\\n by this plant when 



