Do Old Maids Help Yield Of Clover Seed?

Chronicle (Levin), 23 June 1949, Page 4

Do Old Maids Help Yield Of Clover Seed?

^ ; He believed that it was Thomas' Henry Huxley, the. great English biologist, who in the -latter part of the last century pointed out a direct proportion between a heavy yield of clover seed in an English rural community and the number of old maids living in the nearest village, Dr. Earl A. Dennis, Public Relations Officer, of the American Embassy, mentioned this in a talk to the Levin Junior Chamber of Commerce on Monday evenfng. Dr. Dennis said that the sequence of contributing factors went something,llikej ms^— n , 9 Old maids are fond of cats and the larger number of old maids in the community the larger number of cats. • Cats are fond of field mice and the greater number of cats the fewer field mice. © Field mice are fond of nibbling on the eggs and 'developing larvae of burrible bees; therefore, the fewer field mice and more bumble bees. 9 The more bumble bees the greater pereentage of successful pollination of red clover and the greater yie7d of clover seed. « Therefore the larger number of old maids in a rural area the better the clover seed crop. He, for one, was convinced that the contribution made to international understanding and world economic co-operation by a broad programme of the exchange of specialists and experts was more easily discernible than the relationship between " Huxley's oM maids and a good clover seed crop, added Dr. Dennis amidst laughter.