632 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



In New Zealand the catsear is soraelimes called 

 the dandelion. 



2. Passion Flower. — This is a vine 

 which in warmer climes produces the pas- 

 sion fruit. The bees always work it. It 

 has a very long blooming- period. 



3. Redhot Poker. — A garden plant here; 

 but in its native habitat the bees should do 

 well on it. The nectar can be shaken out 

 in handfuls. The bees work on it from 

 early morn till late in the afternoon. It 

 blooms in the early autumn here. 



4. Catsear. — This is commonly called 

 eapeweed here, and even dandelion. Is it 

 the same as is called dandelion in the 

 states'? Dandelion has a similar flower, 

 but only one llower to a stalk, which is hol- 

 low. The leaf is smooth. Catsear has a 

 rougli leaf, and the flowers come on branch- 

 ing stems which are solid. Dandelion blooms 

 in the spring, but catsear starts soon after 

 clover and continues when clover is finished. 

 The flowers close up after midday. It is 

 a strong grower, and often the pastures are 

 a sheet of yellow in the morning. It is a 

 useful honey-plant. The honey is of a 

 rich golden color, and the flavor mild and 

 good. 



.5. The common Scotch tliistle is a weed 

 which grows everywhere. It begins flower- 

 ing as clover is going off, and provides a 

 quantity of water-white honey. The bees 

 work very hard on it all day, and it is no 

 uncommon sight to see several bees at once 

 on a flower. 



Wainin, N. Z. 



THE GLORIOUS 



GUM-TREE ; A WONDERFUL 

 TANICAL ORDER 



HONEY-YIELDING BO- 



BV T. RAYMENT 



An American architect came to Australia 

 to design a capital worthy of the common- 

 wealth, lie, like all visitors to the Austral- 

 ian shores, was so deeply impressed with 

 the unique beauty of the trees peculiar to 

 the island continent that he enthusiastically 

 described them as " glorious gum-trees." 

 This note awakened Australians to a better 

 appreciation of the indigenous flora. " The 

 glorious gum-tree" is ubiquitous. Snow- 

 gums (-E'. alpina), twisted and bent, bat- 

 tle with the elements on the snow-clad moun- 

 tain peaks. The scorching winds of the 

 arid interior do not debar the coolibah {E. 

 microtheca) from flourishing. Color har- 

 monies in deep cool forest gullies are pro- 

 vided by the manna-gums {E. vwiinalis) 

 and cider-gums {E. (junnii). Other species 

 clothe the long coast line, notably the swamp 

 mahogany (E. rohusta). Surely a woiider- 

 fnl (lisli'il)ntioii ! 



But the term gum-tree is a misnomer. The 

 various trees belong to the species Eiica- 

 Jpptns of the order Myrtacea. E. R. Root, 

 editor of Gleanings, once said that it was 

 almost impossible to specify botanically the 

 goldeurods (Solidago) of America, and this 

 applies to the Eucalypts. They furnish 

 an interminable study in plant gradation, 

 one species merging into another with baf- 

 fling complexity, htit they all yield honey. 

 The bark permits a popular classification 

 because it is most apparent; but no system 

 is entirely satisfactory. Here, then, are tlic 

 groups differentiated by the bark; 



Gum-tiees. — Bark thick, smooth, and soft. 

 Typical specimens, blue gum [E. glob- 

 ulus), and forest red-gum {E. teriicornis). 



Box-trees (1).— Bark solid, rough, nnd 

 short -fibered; confined to the bole with u])- 

 per branclu's bare. Typical specimens, yel- 



