1919 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 265 



AUSTRALIA, THE BEEKEEPER'S PARADISE 



By Tarlton Rayment, Author of ''Money in Bees," Etc. 



(Copyright by the author) 

 West Australia 



The great commonwealth of Aus- 

 tralia has often been described as a 

 land of "magnificent distances." So it 

 is ; it is so far removed from the 

 home land of most of its original set- 

 tlers that it is "down under" or, to 

 use another term, it is the antipodes, 

 and far too vast to attempt anything 

 descriptive in less than six chapters. 

 "Why six?" Well, there must be a 

 limit somewhere, and since the larg- 

 est star on our national flag has six 

 points — one for each State — we have 

 decided to give a point likewise to 

 each of them. To avoid all interstate 

 j jalousies we propose to deal with 

 them in geographical order, ami 

 should we degenerate into the ver- 

 nacular, as most "Aussies" are prone 

 to do, the appropriateness of the des- 

 ignation will be our chief excuse. 



What a scintillating cluster is the 

 Southern Cross. West Australia, 

 South Australia, Victoria, New South 

 Wales, Queensland, and, we almost 

 forgot the "Apple Garden" — Tasma- 

 nia. Unlike the Poet who went from 

 east to west, we go the reverse, west 

 to east. So here goes "The West." 



It's a very wonderful country, im- 

 mense, rich, pleasant, healthy, new. 

 Its chief features are coastal forests 

 of mighty Eucalyptus trees that rival 

 the giants of America. The other 

 great division comprises the gold 

 country, yes, it has miles and miles 

 and yet more miles of open plain 

 country, baked under an ardent sun. 

 Now don't jump to conclusions, the 

 plains may prove a veritable flower 

 garden. "Good for bees?" No one 

 has tried it, but a kinsman who has 

 traveled the interior tells me that he 

 rode for days, and long days, too, 

 through apparently unending beds of 

 red "everlastings," then just as sud- 

 denly the color of the flowers ap- 

 peared to change, and mile succeeded 

 mile of white "everlastings," then 

 yellow, and so on, until the whole af- 

 fected one like the changing tints of 

 some kaleidoscope. But my kinsman 

 was after the gold that men dig for 

 in the bowels of the earth, so the 

 glory of the golden flowers did not 

 receive its due. And there's not much 

 water there, though "The West" pos- 

 sesses one of the most remarkable 

 pipe lines in the world, for it is by 

 pipe that water is conveyed to one of 

 the great inland mining towns. It's 

 "some" tube. 



But we've strayed too far, or per- 

 haps not far enough, for away to the 

 northwest of the State are great cat- 

 tle runs, and since the conditions are 

 somewhat similar to those of the 

 "Never Never," as the northern por- 

 tion of South Australia is often 

 called, we will deal more fully with 

 the flora under the heading of that 

 State. On the coast that borders the 

 Indian ocean, pearl fishers pursue 

 their enthralling quest to the accom- 

 paniment of sudden squalls that toss 



the tiny craft clear of high water 

 mark or else, as the Germans say, 

 "spurlos versunken," sunk without a 

 trace. 



Wist a moment. We have our 

 magic pen. 



First, a subtil fragrance steals 

 through the forest air. It is delicate, 

 yet insistent. "Chop — Chop — Chop — 

 Chop, the rhythm of the axemen's 

 blows provide the music of the bush. 

 The sharpened steel rings as it 

 cleaves the forest's boles; with a 

 swishing roar the lofty giants hurl 

 down deep into the world of the for- 

 est floor and through a million wav- 

 ing stalks of the richly perfumed 



boronia. The scent gets overpower- 

 ing, yet the bushmen toil at the 

 "Jarrah," or "Karri" logs that the 

 mills may be fed. Do the gum trees 

 "Jarrah" and "Karri" (Eucalyptus mar- 

 yinata) and (E. diversicolor) yield 

 honey? 



Yes, but it is strong-flavored and 

 dark; but there are other "gumtrees" 

 that yield heavily, while the quality is 

 excellent, the "Yate" tree (E. cornuta) 

 especially. 



In spring there is the ubiquitous 

 "Cape weed" (Cryptostemma calendula- 

 eeum) to gild the fields and the pock- 

 ets of the apiarists, while nearer the 

 south there are the glorious crimson- 



eavej 



f\ 



Oci>er 



uwm 



Details of 



kerhe&f. 



The "Gray Gum" Eucalyptus 



