CHAPTER XVJI. 



BEE FORAGE. BEES IN RELATION TO HORTICULTURE AND 



AGRICULTURE. 



The native bee forage of Australia and New Zealand 

 differ entirely from each other. In the former country 

 the various kinds of Eucalypti, and some of the 

 Acacias, form the chief honey-bearing flora from which 

 the greater part of the commercial honey marketed 

 is gathered. Most of the forest trees indigenous to 

 New Zealand, and there is a great variety, are honey- 

 bearing — some of them remarkably so. It is a fact, 

 however, that the bulk of the honey gathered from 

 the native flora in both countries does not hit the 

 public taste for table use, I have tasted, what I 

 considered, some very fine honey in Australia, gathered 

 from the Gums (Eucalypti) and it is undeniable that 

 we have equally as fine bush honey in New Zealand, 

 but the fact remains that the demand for it is small 

 as compared with that gathered from white clover. 



For manufacturing purposes, nothing could be better, 

 as the stronger flavour of the native honey would be 

 more suitable for making up than the milder flavour of 

 clover honey. At present, unfortunately, we have no 

 extensive factories using honey, consequently there is 

 little demand for it for business undertakings of this 

 nature, and the cost of carriage to Europe for low 

 grade honey is too great to pay the sender. 



WHITE CLOVER HONEY. 



There is no room for question that honey gathered 

 from white clover blossoms is the best we know of, and 

 is in the greatest demand the world over. Tliere is no 

 part of Australasia where white clover flourishes 

 so luxuriantly as it does in most parts of New Zealand, 



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