e.

=As a Honey Plant.=--White clover is proverbial for its ability to
furnish honey. There is probably no single plant which furnishes more or
better honey. But its value for such a use varies greatly in different
years. In seasons that are quite dry in the spring, it makes but little
growth and produces but few blossoms; hence, in such seasons bees can
obtain but little honey, relatively, from such a source. It would
doubtless be good policy, therefore, for the growers to encourage the
sowing of alsike clover where bees are much kept, since the growth of
this clover is less hindered by dry weather at the season named. Less
close pasturing than is commonly practiced would favorably influence the
production of honey from white clover, and would also result in
considerably greater yields of pasture.

CHAPTER IX

JAPAN CLOVER

Japan Clover (_Lespedeza striata_) was introduced from China or Japan,
or from both countries, into South Carolina in 1849, under the name
Japan clover. It is thought the seed came in connection with the tea
trade with these countries. According to Phares, the generic term
_Lespedeza_, borne by the one-seeded pods of the plants of this family,
was assigned to them in honor of Lespedez, a governor of Florida under
Spanish rule. It is sometimes called Bush clover, from the bush-shaped
habit of growth in the plants when grown on good soils, but is to be
carefully distinguished from the Bush clovers proper, which are of
little value as food plants.

Japan clover is an annual, but owing to its remarkable power to retain
its hold upon the soil, through the shedding of the seed and the growing
of the same, it has equal ability with many perennials to retain its
hold upon the soil. It does not start until late in the spring, nor can
it endure much frost; but its ability to grow in and retain its hold
upon poor soils is remarkable, while its powers of self-propagation in
the South would seem to be nearly equal to those of small white clover
(_Trifolum repens_) in the North. It is, therefore, one of the hardiest
plants of the clover family. Where it has once obtained a foothold, in
some soils, at least, it has been known to crowd out Bermuda grass and
even broom sage.

The form of the plants is much affected by the character of the soil in
which they grow. On poor soils, the habit of growth is low and
spreading; on good soils, it is more upright. But it is always more or
less branched, and the