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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Mar. 2, 1899. 



nectar ; I don't believe any one else has. Where is there a 

 tree, often 100 feet high, in this country, that can be called 

 a honey-tree ? As far as I know, the basswood does not 

 grow as high as our tall gum-trees, yet it secretes much 

 more honey, at least in some years, as you know who have 

 followed bee-keeping in the Eastern States. Possibly some 

 day, when the gum-trees now growing in this State have 

 obtained a good old age, they may be far superior honey- 

 yielders than the basswood ever was. 



We have bigger trees in this State than the eucalyptus, 

 and I am proud to say that they are natives of California. 

 Perhaps some daj-, when our eucalypti are old and hoary, 

 they may be larger specimens of the vegetable kingdom 

 than any of our sequoias of world-wide fame. 



We Californians want to see everything about us spring 

 into being with wonderful rapidity. We desire to prove 

 to the world that we live in a fast age, and I think we 

 do it. We have trees that in a few short years grow to pro- 

 digious size. "Jack's bean-stalk" would not be "in it" 

 with some of these trees of ours. While I say our trees, 

 still I would include some of foreign origin — the eucalyptus, 



Blue-Gum (Eucalyptus.) Flowers. 



for instance. In the tree just named, bee-keepers are the 

 most interested ; it is one that overshadows everything else 

 in their bee-garden, and as it is the one I started to discuss 

 in this paper I must confine myself to it. 



It is well that our delightful climate allows us to grow 

 this tree, for it enhances the value of our State as a bee's 

 paradise. With the aid of the honey from the eucalyptus 

 an apiary that is located near a grove of these trees is able 

 to bridge over a gap when other bee-pasturage would be an 

 unknown quantity. 



About the Bay of San Francisco, and more especially in 

 the vicinity of Oakland and Berkeley — where my observa- 

 tions of the tree under consideration have been principally 

 confined — the blue-gum blooms in winter and early spring. 

 The flowers are numerous, and I have known individual 

 trees to begin their period of inflorescence in December and 

 continue to bloom continuously until May or June. The 

 buds on the south side of the tree are brought into bloom 

 by the warm sun of December or January, and as the days 

 grow more balmy the flower-cups expand in increast ratio 

 until finally the whole tree has opened its honey-chalices to 



the bees. It is a delightful pleasure to a lover of Nature to 

 sit beneath a eucalyptus tree on a balmy day in winter, 

 and listen to the myriads of bees merrily humming their 

 gladsome tune as they industriously gather the nectar from 

 the thousands of flowers overhead. With what vim they 

 work is fully attested by their joyous hum and their rapid 

 flight to and fro between hive and tree. 



It is not long after the gum-tree begins blooming that 

 the brood-chamber that was most depleted of stores during 

 December — which, to me, seems to be the month when the 

 bees consume the most honey in this climate — is again well 

 provisioned. This honej' is very dark in color, thick, and 

 of a strong, aromatic flavor ; the color often resembling 

 the iron-colored sap that sometimes exudes from a cut in the 

 tree and forms a gum of a rusty iron nature. And, in pass- 

 ing, I might ask, What honey gathered during the winter 

 months in this State is light in appearance, and of a good 

 marketable flavor ? I know of none. Do you ? My obser- 

 vations lead me to the belief that none of our honeys from 

 native or imported plants yield light-colored honey, except 

 in the warmer months of the year. 



It is not a light-colored honey that the apiarist cares so 

 much for during a year of drouth — almost " any old thing " 

 at such a time will satisfy him and his bees. Where the 

 apiary is located near a gum forest, or in a neighborhood 

 where gum-trees are numerous, even if they are planted as 

 roadside trees, as we find them in nearly all portions of the 

 State, the apiarist's bees will not starve. They will be able 

 to fill their hives with stores obtained from the flowers of 

 these trees. 



All through the winter, when the weather is fair, my 

 bees work on the blossoms of eucalyptus globulus (blue- 

 gum), and sometimes on eucalyptus rostrata (red-gum). It 

 is not always that the latter blooms during winter here- 

 abouts — more often its season of inflorescence is in the fall. 

 Even then it is a boon to the apiarist, for it allows the bees 

 to lay in a store of sealed honey for winter. 



We could sow the seed or set out many plants that are 

 noted honey-yielders, but how many do so ? And this 

 mainly for the reason that we consider the ground more 

 valuable for some other crop. Where there is an abundance 

 of water for irrigation, alfalfa is often raised, and an ex- 

 cellent honey-producing plant it is, too. Would that there 

 were more of it in this State, for it would not only be a 

 great acquisition for the apiarist, but for the cattle and 

 sheep raiser as well. 



Right here I would like to suggest to bee-keepers who 

 have not tried it. that they fill their pockets with alfalfa 

 seed when about to take a walk along the bank of a creek, 

 or along the roadside, and then scatter some of this seed at 

 intervals during their journey. By taking these little walks 

 in different directions they will soon have seeded quite a 

 section about their home. Most of this seed will grow, pro- 

 vided it is sown just before a rain. In a few years seed 

 from the plants thus grown will scatter and become self- 

 sown. The area of one's bee-pasture will be greatly aug- 

 mented by pursuing this plan for several j'ears. 



There are many varieties of the eucalyptus in Califor- 

 nia besides the two I have already referred to, but I con- 

 sider these the best for the bee-keeper, as they are of rapid 

 growth, bloom profusely, and make excellent fuel. Eu- 

 calyptus globulus is well known ; it is now about one of the 

 most common and striking trees we have in the State. l5u- 

 calyptus rostrata is not so common. It is not quite so rapid 

 a grower as the blue-gum, but it is generallj- of a hand- 

 somer appearance, if it is possible to attribute beauty to 

 either of these trees. Some people are of the opinion that 

 all varieties of eucalypti are ugly ; this is far from being 

 correct, for out of the several hundred varieties of gum- 

 trees there are many that are ornamental. 



Anj' bee-keeper who possesses a patch of land in the 

 hills should by all means plant as many gum-trees as he 

 possibly can, as I consider these trees very valuable for 

 fuel, ornamentation (and God knows that our Southern 

 California hills — and some of the Northern ones, too — are 

 quite desolate in their treeless nudity), enhancing the 

 value of the realty ; and last, tho not least, for honey. 



Eucalyptus is of easy culture, and any one can raise the 

 plants from seed. When the young plants are eight or 

 twelve inches high, they are ready to set out in the place 

 where they are to remain. They will require no attention 

 after they have been in the open ground a year or two. I 

 would recommend planting them in clumps of a dozen or 

 so, rather than plant them at set distances through the field 

 as one would plant an orchard. Clumps of trees at irregu- 

 lar intervals scattered over a field or hillside are more pic- 

 turesque then when set out orchard fashion ; besides, the 



