190 
CLOVER 
large part of the beneficial bacteria, or the 
soil may become acid and require a liberal 
application of lime. Such land is said to 
be “clover-sick,” as explained at the be¬ 
ginning of the general article on Clover. 
Nearly all of northeastern Ohio and the 
major part of Pennsylvania show a de¬ 
ficiency of lime. This is also true of Mas¬ 
sachusetts where very little white clover 
honey is produced. The remedy, of course, 
is to apply lime as previously explained. 
In the same locality the surplus of honey 
stored from white clover varies greatly in 
different seasons and from day to day. At 
Clarinda, Page Co., Iowa, J. L. Strong 
carefully recorded from day to day for 29 
years, from 1885 to 1914, the weight of 
one hive and the weather conditions. 
White clover is the most important honey 
plant in this locality. An analysis of 
these statistics by L. A. Kenoyer (Bull. 
169, Iowa Agr. Exp. Sta.) gave the fol¬ 
lowing results: The largest amount of 
honey was brought into the hives on clear 
days. Of the entire gain in weight, 61 
per cent was made on clear days; 13 per 
cent on partly cloudy days; 13 per cent 
on cloudy days; and 13 per cent on rainy 
days. On a part of the rainy days there 
was practically no increase. In June 56 
per cent of the increase Was obtained, and 
in July about 22 per cent. The July flow 
was largely determined by that of June. 
The largest amount of honey, or 46 per 
cent, was secured on days when the tem¬ 
perature was between 80 and 90 degrees 
P. Of the total yield of honey 17 per 
cent was stored on days when the tempera¬ 
ture was less than 80 degrees, and 37 per 
cent when it was over 90 degrees. For the 
production of honey, days with a wide 
range of temperature are best. A good 
year is usually followed by a poor year. 
The average crop for 10 good years was 
136 pounds. The average crop for the 10 
years succeeding the best 10 years was 71 
pounds. A heavy snowfall in winter was 
favorable to a large yield the following 
summer. 
BEE PASTURAGE. 
There are no statistics, as in the case of 
alfalfa, giving the acreage of white clover 
in the different States of the Union. In¬ 
troduced from Europe it grows without 
cultivation over a large area in fields and 
pastures, in the vicinity of dwellings, and 
along the roads. In New England the 
coast lands, as the blueberry barrens of 
Maine and the sandy outwash plains of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, are too 
acid for white clover; but it is abundant 
on the limestone soils of the eastern part 
of Aroostook County, Me.; in the Cham¬ 
plain Valley, Vt.; and in the Berkshire 
Valley, Mass. There is a large area of cal¬ 
careous glacial till soil in the northern part 
of the State of New York in St. Lawrence 
County. A small area of this soil is also 
found along the northern edge of Franklin 
County, and in the southern portion of 
Jefferson County it again occurs. White 
clover is here very reliable, and nowhere 
else in this country does it provide better 
bee pasturage. From Buffalo there ex¬ 
tends across the State nearly to the Hud¬ 
son River a belt of land 20 to 50 miles in 
width, extending northward along Lake 
Erie and southward among the l inger 
Lakes, covered with soils of glacial origin 
rich in lime. The clovers grow well thru- 
out this strip, and 'the secretion of nectar 
is dependable. South of this belt is the 
buckwheat region with neutral or acid soils 
on which the clovers do not prosper. In 
the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, “the 
garden of the State,” a productive lime¬ 
stone soil covers the larger part of York, 
Lancaster, Berks, and Chester counties. 
Dairy farming is one of the principal in¬ 
dustries and there is much alsike clover. 
Deep within the Appalachian Mountains, 
which occupy the central portion of the 
State, walled in by ridges 1,000 feet high, 
are many fertile valleys with limestone 
floors where all the clovers flourish. In 
western Pennsylvania the soils are more 
nearly neutral or acid and require lime. 
White clover as a honey plant is at its 
maximum in “the white clover belt,” whicli 
includes western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa. But it is 
not equally abundant in all parts of these 
States, nor are the limits of the belt strict¬ 
ly defined by their boundary lines. In the 
opinion of Phillips “the best clover terri¬ 
tory in the United States is probably north¬ 
western Ohio, northeastern Indiana, Michi¬ 
gan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, all of which 
are covered with a heavy deposit of glacial 
