“As a honey plant, Ball Clover appears to have great possibilities. I have been told by a Plant Materials Specialist of the Soil Conservation Service that bees will store about three times more honey from Ball Clover than from White Clover.”

 — G. Perkins
Louisiana Soil Conservation Department

In G. Perkins’ study, ball clover had 840 mature flower heads per square yard compared with 315 for white clover and 300 for crimson clover.

Read more on Ball Clover in an article by George S. Ayers, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, published in the November 2008 issue of American Bee Journal. 

Excerpt:
Several times during May he checked a 30-acre field of ‘s-1’ white clover in full bloom growing on good bottom land and found only a few bees working it. At the same time, a 15-acre field of ball clover on adjoining hill-land was “alive with honey bees”. Both clover plantings were within 1/4 mile of a 30-hive apiary.

Ball clover blooms over a period of 7 to 8 weeks and has a high density of bloom (840 blooms per yard)... Ball clover is an excellent honey plant, and bees show a strong preference for it over other true clovers.

— S. E. McGregor
U.S. Department of Agriculture