OF 



THe JOURNAL -^r^oVc 



BOTANICAL 

 aAKOBN. 



Tfte department of Mgricufture 



ov 



VICTORIA. 



Vol. X. Part 1. 



10th January, 1912. 



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bee-keeping IX VICTORIA. 



F. R. BtiiJiiic, Bee Expert. 



I.— LOCATIOX. 



Bee-keeping in Victoria is carried on under different conditions to those 

 existing in otiier countries. In the Northern Hemisphere, and also in New 

 Zealand, tiie principal supply of nectar comes from ground flora on 

 meadows, roadsides, fields and woods. In Victoria, we depend almost 

 exclusi\-elv on our eucal\i)ts and a few other native trees and shrubs. 

 Owing to our hot summers, which pre\ent the secretion of nectar in soft 

 herbaceous plants, except on irrigated land and in exceptionally cool 

 districts, the amount of honev obtained from other than native flora is 

 small in comparison with the quantity harvested from eucalypts. 



Even where climatic conditions a,re favourable to the sc^cretion of 

 nectar, the system of closelv feeding down pastures, which is largely 

 practised in Australia, does not permit of the proper development of the 

 nectar-producing plants and the maximum production of nectar. As 

 probably over 90 per cent, of the honev produced in Victoria is obtained 

 from eucalypts, this fact should be borne in mind when sielecting a district 

 in which to commence bee-keeping. 



With the opening up of countrv to settlement, the natural honey 

 resourojs are to a large extent destroyed. It is a natural and inevitable 

 result and no claim can be made on behalf of bee culturie to have the whole 

 of the country kept in its natural .state. 



Everv countr\ , however, must have forests and timber reserves to 

 maintain the supply of timber, to protect the sources of water supply, and 

 to exercise a beneficial influence on the climate. As the forests of Victoria 

 are now permanentlv reserved and are being improved by thinning, pro- 

 tection against fires, and new plantations, they afford ample scope for 

 apicultural enterprise and a great expansion of the bee-keeping indui^try. 

 Moreover, the advent of irrigation .settlement on a large scale, together 



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