1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



199 



rostrata and E. terreticonis), swani]) 

 gums (E. Gummii), manna gums (E. 

 vlminalis) and on higher land yellow 

 box (E. melliodora), and since this i^ 

 to be a general survey, we must 

 firmly decline to enumerate any more 

 eucalypts. Suffice it to say that to 

 look over the illimitable range with 

 its winding blue gullies clothed with 

 the velvety greenness of dense forest 

 growth is to realize that there i< 

 room for millions of apiarists. Every 

 day our view extends over hundreds 

 of miles of densely covered country 

 and not a beekeeper to gatlier even 

 a fraction of the vast crops of honey 

 secreted year by year. The forest 

 may be secured on lease, 2.000 acres 

 for, say $25 per year. 



To the west, the wheat country, 

 there are belts of rich honey plants. 

 Along the banks of the Murray River 

 are the irrigation settlements that 

 extend quite a distance from the 

 river .Fruit blossoms and lucerne in 

 abundance, for instance 600 acres of 

 citrus fruits in one garden. Have you 

 anything as big as that in America? 



Down south, and especially the 

 southeast, Gippsland in particular is 

 the dairying land, rich dark soil, some 

 fine alluvial that grows almost any 

 crops, where the introduced black- 

 berry has run wild and ruined the 

 farmers that neglected to stem its in- 

 sistent advance. Fourteen feet maize, 

 and clover, white Dutch, strawberry, 

 alsike, crimson, red and some others. 

 Big trees — you take our word for it, 

 they are big. Eighteen hundred 

 fence rails 9 feet long by 10x3 inches 

 out of one "stick"; where the axe 

 men go up ten and fourteen feet on 

 spring-boards to escape the enor- 

 mous buttresses at the base of the 

 giant, before attempting to fell the 

 tree. 



Of course, in a country such as we 

 have attempted to describe there 

 must be plenty of apiarists. Well, 

 not as many as you might imagine. 

 There are very few, if any box-hive 

 men, for the laws of the state pre- 

 clude the keeping of bees in other 

 than "properly constructed frame 

 hives"; suoh is the wording of the 

 act. 



There is a beekeepers' association, 

 but it is very small and not at all 

 representative of the many progres- 

 sive apiarists in the state. The 

 writer of these articles favors a fed- 

 eral body. The state association is 

 not blessed with longevity; its in- 

 come is very small, but the aggregate 

 of all states placed at the disposal of 

 one Federal body might do some 

 good. 



Regarding the instruction of nov- 

 ices and others who desire informa- 

 tion, little or nothing is being done. 

 The writer would like to see a Fed- 

 eral body of apiarists charged with 

 the dissemination of apicultural 

 knowledge, and to possess the power 

 of granting certificates of compe- 

 tency to candidates who pass the pre- 

 scribed examinations. In addition, 

 such a body could more efficiently 

 handle the export problem, and, un- 

 der Government aegis, investigate the 

 why and the -wherefor of diseased 



bees — and undesirable beekeepers. 

 (This is an afterthought). 



Now, here is a secret or two about 

 the returns per hive. We can show 

 a record of 10 60-pound tins per hive, 

 equal to 600 pounds, and, on the con- 

 trary, some years the return was not 

 one ounce per hive. We are going to 

 leave your readers to fill any figures 

 they wish that will enable them to 

 determine what is a fair average re- 

 turn. It ought to be easy; look at 

 the range we have indicated, 600 

 pounds down to zero. So you see the 

 apicultural industry in Australia is 

 very like the same industry in Ameri- 

 ca. Don't you think so? 



New South Wales 



It was in the "Ma State," other- 

 wise New South Wales, about 1882, 

 that Captain Wallace, of the ship 

 Isabella, landed the first colonies of 

 honeybees in Australia. They were 

 black bees, and so favorable for in- 

 sect life are the conditions existing 

 in the indigenous forests that the in- 

 sects spread over the entire conti- 

 nent in countless numbers. The 

 honeybee thus introduced is now 

 known as the "bush" bee. 



Like the rabbits, sparrows and 

 foxes, the bee was obtained from 

 Europe, but unlike all the former, 

 the bee proved a blessing. The na- 

 tive bee, about the size of_ the com- 

 mon house fly, belongs to the genus 

 Trigona, and while they make honey- 

 comb with hexagonal cells about the 

 diameter of a pin's head, the whole 

 colony is rarely larger than a man's 

 two hands placed palm to palm. They 

 do not always build in rocks or holes 

 in timber, but often just hang under 

 a projecting branch. Bumblebees, 

 Carpenter bees and some others are 

 to be found. Strange to say, Mr. 

 Gerald F. Hill F. E. S., one time Gov- 

 ernment Entomologist for the terri- 

 tory, informs me that he never en- 

 countered wax moths in the nests of 

 the Trigona. (We had to insert this 

 here because we forgot it when deal- 

 ing with northern Australia, and, 

 "better late than never.") 



To get back to the "Ma State," it 

 is so named because its people like to 

 affect a motherly tone when dealing 

 ■with the rest of Australia. Mind, we 

 wouldn't like to say this in an "Aus- 

 sie" journal. However New South 

 Wales is a fine place and we are not 

 surprised at Captain Cook landing 

 there. Right now we should like to 

 recall the fact that the same Cook 

 acted as one of the scout-leaders that 

 piloted Admiral Saunders' fleet at 

 the landing of the British forces, un- 

 der Wolfe, when Quebec was cap- 

 turned from the French. 



To get back to the "Ma State" for 

 the second time — if the Editor's pa- 

 tience will permit — It's "some" bee 

 country. Near the coast the moun- 

 tainous range that divides "Vic." runs 

 northerly and almost parallel with 

 the sea shore. It's a great forest, 

 carrying a dense growth of euca- 

 lypts. The climate ranges all over 

 the thermometer, both "F." and "C." 

 It's way down cold in the southeast, 

 about Monan, where the apiarists 

 swear by the tremendous flows of 



honey from the snap or silver-gum 

 (E. vitrea). Along the rivers the bee- 

 keepers praise the red-gum (E. ros- 

 trata). On the plains, the westerly 

 portion of the state, the rich melli- 

 ferous scent of the yellow-box per- 

 vades everything and makes fortunes 

 for all the bee masters — that is, when 

 the speculating profiteer permits. Up 

 on the high land there is bloodwood 

 (E. corymbosa), cabbage-gum (E. 

 coriacea), ironbarks (E. sideroxylon), 

 and other species, mahogany (E. res- 

 inifera), fuzzy-box (E. Baueriana), 

 white box (E. hemiphloia), muzzle- 

 wood (E. stellulata), tallow wood (E. 

 microcorys), and hundreds of wattles ; 

 but we're full up of enumerating any 

 more, Mr. Editor; but should you 

 care to insert others, look up our 

 book from page 240, then clip ad in- 

 finitum. 



Your readers must remember that 

 we must keep one eye, that is figura- 

 tively speaking, on Editor Pender, of 

 the "Australasian Beekeeper," for 

 New South Wales is his state. How- 

 ever, about his district, it is mostly 

 lucerne, and there are other areas in 

 the state where lucerne is the main- 

 stay. The "Ma State" has a live bee- 

 keepers' association with some dis- 

 trict branches, with some jolly good 

 apiarists, too. They have an api- 

 arists' "Act" somewhat on the lines 

 of that in Victoria, but space is too 

 valuable to raise any controversy over 

 the similarity of mere acts of Parlia- 

 ment, but that august body lays be- 

 hind "Vic," for it yet permits selfish 

 and unscrupulous settlers to ringbark 

 and otherwise destroy valuable tim- 

 ber without much supervision. The 

 "Act" says, "must leave 8 trees to the 

 acre." Nuflf said. "Vic" leases the 

 tree tops to bee farmers at so much 

 per annum, but "Viv" is miserably 

 weak in dealing with the fire lighters 

 who every year cause the conflagra- 

 tion of huge honey-yielding forests. 

 So it's a "toss-up" between the two 

 states, after all. 



Some very large crops of honey 

 have been recorded from New South 

 Wales, but we don't wonder at that, 

 as the New South Wales bees work 

 all the hours God gives them. Yes, 

 we mean it literally. Editor Pender, 

 of West Maitland, once wrote that 

 his bees worked in the moonlight and 

 if any of your readers feel conten- 

 tious over the matter we refer them 

 to him. We feel sure he'll give it to 

 them first hand, right and left. 



By this time your readers will see 

 that while there are many other 

 honey plants, the main crops of the 

 Australian mainland are produced 

 from the "Glorious Gum-trees," as 

 one of your leading architects de- 

 scribed them when just viewing them 

 growing in tlieir native surroundings. 

 Queensland 



Wlicn one of our cornstalks was 

 enjoying leave from his regiment of 

 Light Horse, he wandered over to 

 London, the city of his forbears. 

 His tall form and sun-tanned hide, 

 along witli his apparent simplicity of 

 nature soon earned this bush child 

 many invitations to staid English 

 homes. He "swanked." 



