216 Agricultural Gazelle of N.S. W. \Mar. 2, 1908. 



experience had ifi-eatly aided in the developinciit of s])0(ios and tlie production 

 of showy Hewers of the land of our fathers. ( )ii the intrcduction of tlie 

 bees and the flowers referred to, the former appi ar to liave suddenly turnfd 

 their attention from \\w latter, and appr(;nticed themselves to the work f'f 

 attendin,<f to the whitish native honey-bearing- Ihiweis of the Colony —a 

 ■colour that the writers on the subject say the bees studiously avoid for the 

 more <:^or<;eously-coloured ones their progeiutors had been at such piains to 

 produce by < rectin^- those bright-coloured signs for the benefit of the l)ces of 

 to-day, for the jiurpose of saving them Ixith time and lal)oui-. Xevertheles=, 

 the hive-bee, when introduced here, after ha\iiig l)een educated to the 

 highest staiulard in the recogiution of coloui's they arc said to possess in 

 Europe, have stai'ted f/e novo, and worked upon, not our inti'odueed orna- 

 mental flowei's, nor our showy blooms of "red, Ijlue, and purple," but upon 

 "simple white or yellow ones"; so unlike the education in colours tie y 

 had recei\ed in the other side of the world. (Question Will our eucalypti 

 and acacias, aiul othei- white and yellow tlom, in ages to come, develop highly- 

 coloured flowers and of a larger size than at puesent, and will the bees then 

 forsake the colours thev now work upon in the same way they are said to 

 have done in the other parts of the world? Jt is queer l)ees should ha\'e 

 gone back in their tastes for colours, when they crossed the equator in coming 

 to this side of the world. 



Some years ago a series of ([uestions were sui)mitted by the Department of 

 Agriculture to the bee-keei)ers of this State, relative to what plants were 

 visited l)y bees as regards size and colour of blooms. 



In the ranks of the bee-keepers are men of keen observation as to whence 

 their honey flow comes. The whole of the answers given are full of interest. 

 Of course, the imported fruit-trees and other exotic tlowering plants are 

 jiamed as giving the spring supply t)f pollen and honey, l)ut the irenhark, 

 grey gum, bloodwood, blue gums, and the eucaly{)ts genei'ally are by far the 

 most remarkable as honey-jielding, and all these have white flowers. On 

 the northern districts the broad and narrow-leaved tea-tree is stated "to be 

 the largest honey -yielder we have " ; therefore its white flowers are the 

 attraction. One l)ee-keeper states that " one year he grew a plot of ichite 

 poppies for experiments with o]>ium, and found the flowers literally erowded 

 fr. m daylight to dark with l^ees. ' 



The report concludes by saying, " Regarding the size and colour of flowers 

 most aftected by the bees, much diversity of opiinon exists among apiarists." 

 It is, in(leed, an open (pu^stion if colour has any efTect in the 

 matter." In the report one obsei'ving bee-keeper ( pia in tly observes, "The 

 bee is quite inditFerent to the size of a flower, provided he can get what he 

 wants " : and, from exp(>iience, I can add, (piite iiifliflerent as to colour. 



