192 
CLOVER 
Along the Ohio River in West Virginia 
it is fairly reliable, and in Gilmer County 
it is reported to make a luxuriant growth. 
Thruout the Coastal Plain from Virginia 
to Florida and Texas the pine barrens and 
swamps have largely acid soils, and the 
climate along the coast is subtropical. The 
leading hay crops in the cotton States are 
cowpeas and com fodder, and compara¬ 
tively few acres of alsike clover or red 
clover are harvested. In South Carolina, 
for example, only 375 acres of clover alone 
are grown. This is evidently a poor region 
for clovers of all kinds. In northeastern 
Texas, in northwestern Arkansas, and on 
the bottomlands of the rivers in the east¬ 
ern part of this State, white clover is re¬ 
ported to yield well; but it is possible 
that these reports are based largely on 
the presence of bloom rather than upon 
the amount of honey secured. In general 
white clover in the Gulf States is probably 
an unimportant honey plant; and, except 
to a limited extent in northern Alabama, 
there is no alsike clover under cultivation 
in this region. 
West of the Mississippi River (see Al¬ 
falfa, also The Honey Plants of North 
America) alfalfa is by far the most abun¬ 
dant and valuable honey plant. The acre¬ 
age of sweet clover is likewise rapidly in¬ 
creasing and promises a very valuable bee 
pasturage in the near future. I hruout 
the southern portion of this region it is 
too hot and too dry for the clovers. In 
Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, 
Nevada, Arizona, and Texas the area of 
clovers alone under cultivation is only 
3,480 acres. In the eastern portions of 
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, 
and Kansas white clover is common, and 
is frequently reported as a source of hon¬ 
ey. In the river valleys of Montana both 
white and alsike clovers occur sparingly. 
White clover is abundant in northern Ida¬ 
ho, and in some localities, as Moscow, is 
reported to furnish the larger part of the 
surplus. West of the Cascade Range in 
Washington white clover is on the increase 
in the sections from which the timber has 
been cut;' but, according to Scullen, it 
probably secretes nectar less freely than 
in the Mississippi Valley. "White clover is 
also important in both Stevens and Pend 
Oreille counties in the' northWst corndr of 
the State. In Oregon, as in Washington, 
white clover is common west of the Cas¬ 
cades, but after July it dries up. Vine 
maple and willow-herb furnish most of 
the surplus. In northwestern Oregon there 
is a large'acreage of alsike clover. White 
clover is rapidly extending over the north¬ 
ern counties of California; and, as it is a 
dependable source of nectar here, this sec¬ 
tion will soon offer excellent locations for 
the production of honey. 
WHITE CLOVER, HOW PROPAGATED. 
There is no more important or interest¬ 
ing subject to the beekeepers of “the white 
clover belt” than the life history of white 
clover and its problems. The plant is 
propagated both by seeds and runners 
which I’oot at the nodes and finally become 
independent stocks. As in the case of the 
strawberry, a single plant may in a favor¬ 
able season cover with its runners a circle 
of ground two or three feet in diameter. 
If these new plants winter uninjured, 
they will bloom the following season in 
the same manner as strawberry runners. . 
The older plants, as is again true of the 
strawberry, exhausted by multiplying both 
sexually and vegetatively, are easily killed 
by drought or cold. When the ground is 
densely covered with an old growth there 
will be little opportunity for runners to 
root or seed to germinate. Consequently 
there may come years when there are few 
new plants to bloom. 
White clover seeded in the spring will 
produce, if there is sufficient rain, a heavy 
crop of bloom in July and a fair amount 
of seed. Much depends upon locality. 
Clover raised from seed is more valuable 
for nectar the second season than during 
the first. 
ALSIKE CLOVER (Trifolium In/bri- 
dum L.).—This species was called hybri- 
dum by Linnaeus since he supposed it to be 
a hybrid between white and red clover, but 
it is now believed to be a distinct species, 
It was named alsike clover from the parish 
of Alsike in Upland, Sweden, where it was 
first discovered and where it grows abun¬ 
dantly. It is now known as alsike or 
Swedish clover in Scotland, England, Den¬ 
mark, Germany, France, and America. It 
was introduced into England in 1834 and 
later into this country. It is a very hardy 
