>The individual bees soon learn to get to the nectar without tripping
>the flower, thus they have somewhat  limited usefulness for alfalfa
>pollination unless large numbers of bees are employed per acre.
>
[snip]
>
>Alfalfa does not contribute much pollen to a honey sample because
>of the aversion of our bees to the trip mechanism.  Therefore the
>percentage of alfalfa honey produced is underreported.  Nonetheless,
>without alfalfa,  I would not have much of a crop.
>
>Regards
>
>Allen
 
I stand corrected - somewhere I knew that they would still take nectar, but
my brain neglected to remind me of the fact before I posted. I *try* not to
give misinformation, really I do...
Mea culpa,
 
Doug Yanega       Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA      phone (217) 244-6817, fax (217) 333-4949
 affiliate, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dept. of Entomology
          http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu:80/~dyanega/my_home.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82