200 
CLOVER 
had been stunted by drouth. The blacks 
stored none of' the honey, the hybrids 
stored a little, but the bulk of the 500 
pounds was furnished by the pure Ital¬ 
ians. 
A remarkable illustration of the correla¬ 
tion existing’ between the weather and the 
length of the corolla tubes of the red clover 
was observed by the author in 1906. There 
was almost a drouth during’ the latter part 
of the season at the north beeyard, two 
miles north of Medina. Adjoining this 
yard were several fields of red clover, for 
the farmers were furnished with seed of 
red clover and alsike free of charge. Ow¬ 
ing to the dry weather the corolla tubes of 
the red clover heads were shorter than usual, 
and great numbers of bees were attracted 
by the nectar which was now within their 
reach. When one of the farmers began to 
cut his red clover that season there came 
near being a bad stinging-fracas; for when 
the cutter-knives of the mower went thru 
the field they stirred up the bees, with the 
result that they attacked the horses and 
the man on the mower. So greedily did 
the bees work on that field that it looked 
as tho they were not going’ to let anybody 
cut off their honey supply. Other farmers 
in the vicinity also had considerable trou- 
ble in cutting their red clover because the 
beads were so covered with bees. 
Singularly enough, at Medina, and the 
south beeyard, only two miles away, there 
was plenty of rain. When the author went 
over a big field of rank clover at the south 
yard, scarcely a bee could be found; while 
quite the reverse had been true the whole 
season on the fields at the north yard, where 
there had been a drouth. The clover at the 
home and south yard, by reason of the plen¬ 
tiful rains, had attained a rank growth. The 
corolla tubes were so long that the bees 
could not get any nectar from them, and 
consequently there were no bees on the 
heads. Thus two beekeepers living only 
two miles apart might have arrived at dia¬ 
metrically opposite conclusions as to the 
value of red clover as a honey plant. 
» \ 
PEAVINE OR MAMMOTH CLOVER 
(Trifolium pratense perenne ).—As the 
English name indicates, this is the largest 
variety of red clover. It blooms principal¬ 
ly in the months of August and Septem¬ 
ber. It is an excellent forage plant to 
plow under for the purpose of reclaiming 
an exhausted soil. The flowers have the 
same structure as those of red clover, and 
probably yield nectar under similar condi¬ 
tions. 
CRIMSON. CLOVER ( Trifolium incar- 
natum). —Other English names are Ital¬ 
ian clover and carnation clover. It is also 
called annual clover, since if sown in the 
fall it will form a stand before cold weath¬ 
er, remain green thruout the winter, start 
again very early in the spring, and mature 
its seed before summer. It grows wild in 
southern Europe and in a few more north¬ 
ern localities; and is. widely cultivated 
for forage in Italy, Germany, France, and 
Great Britain. It was introduced into 
this country about 1822,' and during the 
last 30 years has been extensively culti¬ 
vated in the sandy soils of the middle and 
southern States. In the northern States 
it is usually killed by the severe winters. 
In the southern States it is being intro¬ 
duced very extensively by the farm bu¬ 
reaus and by the extension men. But it 
can not be grown successfully unless the 
land is limed. When this is done it makes 
a very fine and valuable forage crop for 
cattle and horses, and an excellent bee pas¬ 
turage. It is being introduced very largely 
especially in North Carolina and South 
Carolina. 
CRIMSON CLOVER AS A HONEY PLANT. 
The sessile flowers are in oblong terminal 
heads 1 to 2 inches long. A field of crim¬ 
son clover in full bloom possesses great 
beauty, and passers-by often stop to gather 
and admire the flowers. It is difficult for 
one who has never seen an acre of crimson 
clover to comprehend the beautiful display 
presented by the broad expanse of deep 
red flowers mingled with the vivid green 
of the leaves. The structure of the flower 
is very similar to that of red clover. The 
corolla tube is 8 or more millimeters long: 
and, as in the case of red clover, is adapted 
to bumblebees, which are cofinnon visitors 
to this species. It is likewise much more 
productive when cross-pollinated than when 
self-pollinated. At Medina, Ohio, almost 
as many honeybees have been observed on 
the flowers as have been seen on buck- 
