GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



covereil (from the Greek, eu, well, and 

 hahjpto, I cover). It is a fine tree for 

 builders' woodwork, bridge-beams, railway- 

 sleepers, fence-rails, etc. The bark is strip- 

 ped otf in sheets, and sheds are covered with 

 it, while many apiarists use a small piece 

 for a liive-cover. It was a tree of tliis spe- 

 cies described by Major Shallard, of New 

 Soutli Wales, in Gleanings recently. The 

 oil dots, altliough described under red box, 

 are peculiar to the whole family. 



RED IKONIJAKK (e. SIDEKOXYLOn) . 



Sidcros, iron, and xylon, wood. This 

 I'emarkable species is easily distingTiished 

 by the bark, which is unlike that of any 

 other tre«. It blooms in winter and yields 

 heavily, but the abundant pale nectar is 

 "suspect.'' Many Australian apiarists as- 

 sociate bad wintering' with the ironbark 

 bloom. Whether tliis is due to the unrii^e 

 Muality of the honey, gathered late, or to 

 some deficieney in the chemical constituents, 

 has not been conclusively demonstrated. 

 The trouble, after all, may be due to some 

 extraneous cause quite distinct from the 

 nectar. It is well knoAvn that bees will 

 sometimes fail to visit ironbai'k, even when 

 the blossom is fairly "dripping" nectar. 



The vast majority of euealyjits bear white 

 or cream flowers. There ai'e a few excep- 

 tions, and ironbark- is one of them, for the 

 flowers are sometimes pale ])ink. Tlie pollen 

 is abundant, and cream in color, and the 

 honey is of good flavor. The timber is red 

 in tint, of great density. It will sink like 

 a stone, and is highly prized for its endur- 

 ance under stress and strain of all kinds. 

 Ironbark frequents the ranges and flour- 

 ishes on granite and Devonian rock forma- 

 tions. In this article the possibilities of tlie 

 eucalypts are only hinted at. The matter is 

 more fully dealt Avith in my book, now in 

 tlie publisher's liands, " Australian Honey- 

 plants and Bee-farming." 



There is another item of interest — the 

 trees of this family generally hold the buds 

 for about 12 months before blooming. 

 Furthermore, the nomenclature is confound- 

 ing. Ironbark in Victoria becomes spotted 

 gum, or blue gum in the adjoining state — 

 hence the ^alue of specific names. 



Briagolong, Victoria, Aus. 



[Editor's Note. — This is the second of a series ot 

 three articles by Mr. Rayment on certain important 

 Ijollen and nectar yielding' plants of Australia. The 

 concluding article '.vill appear in Uie next number.] 



FINDING THE BEE -TREE 



BY E. E. COHEN 



While in a reminiscent frame of mind one 

 day lately, my thoughts wandered back to 

 the happening's of my boyhood days, and 

 memory recalled the unfading picture of a 

 most fortunate finding of a monster bee-tree 

 by mere chance. 



A skilled bee-hunter had made a long and 

 careful hunt for it. He had located the tree 

 as one of a thick clump of giant hemlocks. 

 He had searched each tree carefully with 

 his still keen eye and spyglass for bees to 

 indicate the entrance, but in vain, and had 

 declared the entrance impossible to find 

 because of the heavy shadows of the dense 

 tops and interlacing boughs. 



The scene of my exploit was in Sheldon, 

 in the western part of New York, where my 

 father owned a farm at that time. I was 

 then fifteen. 



One warm day in early September, 1859, 

 tlie thought came to my mind to go out to 

 the woods about a mile and a half away, 

 and look over the big hemlocks for the un- 

 found bee-tree. I started at once, and was 

 soon in the timber where I had seen and 

 followed the old bee-hunter in action. I 

 liad noted the trees that he had examined as 

 most likely ones, where the beelines inter- 



sected, and these I at once proceeded to 

 inspect closely. I could examine only the 

 west side of each tree because of the ap- 

 proaching sunset. Having examined sever- 

 al trees closely without result I moved on to 

 another, a big fellow about three and a half 

 feet further through, when, presto ! looking 

 up some seventy or eighty feet from the 

 ground I saw in a little patch of sunlight a 

 sight that set my nerves tingling, and caused 

 me to throw my hat up in the air and fair- 

 ly shout to the echo of the woods, " There 

 they are!" and there they were, sure enough, 

 very plainly flitting in and out at tlie en- 

 trance, and many prancing about in all tlie 

 glee of young bees enjoying a sunsliine 

 bath. It was undoubtedly the only time of 

 the day wlien the sun could shine upon their 

 entrance, hence their gambols that gave 

 them away. 



Not much grass grew under ray feet on 

 my way home with the glad tidings. With 

 my father and a neighbor to help me the 

 tree was downed early the next day, and the 

 honey secured. After handing out a full 

 supply to the onlookers and to the party 

 who helped us, the net proceeds of extract- 

 ed lioney tilled an eight-gallon jar. 



