Frank Humphrey wrote:                                                           
>When I was growing up in East Texas in the early 50s, we had red or crimson    
>clover mixed in with the grasses in our hay fields.  We kept 8 to 10           
>colonies of bees in gums...                                                    
                                                                                
Frank, what exactly are gums?  Are they those split hollow log hives?  Were     
they still common in the 50's?  And thanks for making a man of 46 feel like     
an ignorant youngster :)                                                        
                                                                                
Our most common and traditional hay mix here is 70-15-15 (timothy-red           
clover-alsike). The red clover really predominates the first year.  The bees    
will work the alsike but are rarely seen on red clover in the first cut.        
But besides the nectar tube being very long in the first flowers, here white    
clover in the pastures is in bloom at the same time, and is so much more        
attractive.  I had one group of hives last fall in an area where there was      
lots of second cut red clover and little else that produced quite well on it.