THE SEED-BEARING HABIT. ‘99 
the fertilization of alfalfa blooms. The honey bee 
helps, no doubt, where it is plentiful, and also many 
other sorts of insects help—butterflies, millers, ants 
and various small insects that swarm in alfalfa 
meadows. Whether honey bees are useful in fer- 
tilizing alfalfa blooms is at present a disputed point, 
many men affirming that they secured as large crops 
of alfalfa seed before bees were introduced into their 
regions as they do since. However this may be, it 
is certain that bees pay large profits in the western 
alfalfa-growing states. Alfalfa honey is of excellent 
quality and it is most doubtful if the bees ever 
gather any of it without unwittingly assisting in the 
fertilization of the alfalfa flower. 
Where Seed is Grown.—The alfalfa plant has 
whims and peculiarities not well understood. Parts 
of California produce seed, other parts are said to 
make too little seed to be worth troubling with. 
Nevada is a good seed-producing region, perhaps 
because of the extreme dryness of the state. Utah 
produces much seed of high quality and Utah is a 
dry land. Colorado produces good seed, so does 
Montana in lesser amounts. The Dakotas produce 
some seed and large amounts are threshed in 
Nebraska and’Kansas. East of the Missouri River 
little seed is grown; east of the Mississippi River 
hardly any alfalfa seed is saved. Stray plants in 
Ohio, on dry banks or along roadsides will load 
themselves with seed, while fields saved for the seed 
make not enough to be worth considering. Texas 
produces a good deal of seed. It has been found 
