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Show Sees and Clover Seed1 i Cross Polllnlzatlon Through Their Agency More Efficient Than Other Methods In Producing Seed Mechanical devices for pollinating red chner havo not been found sue-1 cessful by investigators of tho do-' partment who havo been Btudylng tho problem of red clover seed produc-1 tlon. On the other hand, tho Inves-' tlgators found that tho bumblo bee Is an elllclent cross pollinator nnd that under certain conditions tho ' honey beo may also bo most useful. For some years there has been nn Insufficient supply of homo grown red ' clover seed. As n result not only has the price e,t tho seed been high, I but large quanHtles of foreign seed, j which Is frequently Inferior to the domestic, liavo had to bo imported. In consequence, tho maintenance ot an ndequato clover acreage has becomo be-como a rather serious problem. To remedy tho situation, attempts havo been made to ascertain tho minimum quantities or seed per aero required to secure a satisfactory Btand nnd tho conditions necessary to maintain such a stand. In addition, efforts havo been mado to develop a heavy seeding, hardy strain of clover, and finally various mechanical forms of pollination havo been experimented with. Bulletin No,. 289, a professional paper pa-per of tho department which has Just been published contains tho results of experiments In tho pollination of red clover. Theso experiments show that tho yield of seed obtained on bends which woro not polllnnted or which wer0 self pollinated In different differ-ent 'ways, was practically negligible. Tho nctual amount was less than (yio half of ono per cent, and this iiiBlKnlllcnnt quantity, It Is said may be accounted for by accidental pollination from outsldo sources. In contrast with these results It was found that tho bumblebee was ab'o tp pollinate from 30 to 3," flowers a mlnuto In dry weather. When n fow nectar producing plnnts nro avallablo ' It was found that tho honeybee also, collects largo quantities of pollen from red clover nnd In tho process cross polllnlzatlon ot tho floweis takes placo. Horn! operated brushes for cross pollination were also experimented with. Instead of Increasing tho seed yield, howovcr, theso were found actually ac-tually to decrease It a fact which Is accounted for by tho Injuries tho flowers received from the bristles of the brushes. |