ii6 Hardy, The Forests of Victoria. 



Vol. XX XII. 



The bark industry is an important one, and destined to 

 expand, since wattle bark is now imported from South Africa 

 from trees grown from Australian seed. There are many State 

 wattle plantations — at Maryborough. Majorca. You Yangs, 

 &c. in Gippsland, in the Portland district, three species— viz., 

 Acacia pycnantha, A. mollissima, and A. dealbata, the Golden. 

 Black, and Silver Wattle respectively — being used. The 

 stripping is done under supervision by tender, and only trees 

 over a certain diameter of stem, varying with the locality, are 

 allowed to be stripped. These wattle plantations are being 

 extended by the Government. 



Grazing in the forest reserves is of two sorts. There are the 

 grass lands of the savannah country, where the undergrowth 

 and debris has been cleared away or where undergrowth never 

 existed except in negligible quantity, as on the periodically- 

 submerged river flats among the Red Gum timber. Here 

 grazing is regulated with the growth of seedling Red Gums kept 

 in view. The other grazing is that of the hill country and 

 highland forests, where it is advantageous to have cattle tracks 

 and to have the mountain grass, " Wild Oats," Glyceria dives, 

 eaten down, but the coincidence of grazing and bush-fires has 

 led to the closing of some reserves against grazing during the 

 summer months, and other reserves, except for starving stock 

 at drought time and sawmill draught bullocks, are closed 

 completely. Forest pounds, which are increasing in number, 

 tend to make the closing effective against poachers. 



Last, but not least, among the principal industries is 

 apiculture, and I need only briefly refer to this, as a series of 

 articles appearing in the Agricultural Journal is dealing 

 specially with the trees which yield the honey supply. 

 I he bees, European species, favour lowland country remote 

 from the coast, the principal eucalypts favoured being Box 

 (Yellow, Grey, Red, White, and Long-leaved), [ronbarks (Red 

 and White). Gums (Blue, Yellow, White, and Red), Messmate, 

 and Red and Brown Stringybarks. Species of Acacia, Banksia, 

 and othei but shrubby plants, and even weeds, such as Cape 

 Weed, also supply pollen 01 nectar, or perhaps both. I in 

 honey varies with the species. The coarsei kinds, it gathered 

 early, an r< tored to the bees for theii own feed when the honej 

 more valued foi human consumption is taken away. Thus, 

 much apiculture is carried on with the aid of such eucalypl 

 • nk (Red and Brown) and .Messmate, which yield 

 dark honey. Tea-tree yields honey >o viscid thai il defies the 

 centrifugal extractors Mosl genera of plants are fairlj regular 

 in flowering, but eucalypts an distinctl} uncertain, and. when 

 ilar, have their "on" and "off" years, with resting buds 

 during the latter. The large I honey-producing area is thai 



