1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



297 



One experience of a kind is always 

 sufficient to insure that Mendleson 

 will be prepared next time. When he 

 had his first experience with Ameri- 

 can foulbrood he shortly cleaned it 

 up and has always been on the watch 

 for its reappearance. When Euro- 

 pean foulbrood came along, thirty 

 colonies from all his apiaries was the 

 highest loss in one season. Since 

 then he has constantly practiced pre- 

 ventive measures, keeping his colo- 

 nies strong and requeening frequently 

 with resistant stock. 



He puts up his honey in attractive 

 packages and seeks the best trade, 

 thus realizing better prices for his 

 crop. He sells through only one 

 dealer in one city, and supplies him 

 year after year. On the whole, there 

 are few beekeepers who might not 

 learn some valuable lessons from M. 

 H. Mendelson. 'When it comes to 

 turning out the work, he can set a 

 pace that makes a good man 

 hustle to follow. On one occasion, as a 

 test, he took off, alone, and extracted 

 1.500 pounds of honey in half a day. 



Beekeeping in Australia 



(Concluded from August) 



By T. Rayment 



South Australia 



In our previous article we dealt 

 with "The West." Well, to proceed, 

 we may travel east by the transconti- 

 nental line, one of the greatest rail- 

 ways in the world, which runs parallel 

 with" the southern coast, or, we may 

 board one of the British mail steam- 

 ers and disembark at Adelaide. To 

 get back to the vernacular we are 

 now in the Holy City" in "Southos." 

 The latter is the Australians' affec- 

 tionate name for the State of South 

 Australia, and the former is the same 

 worthy's cynical cognomen for the 

 beautiful capital city renowned for 

 its many churches. Before the Fer- 

 eration of the States, South Australia 

 was comprised of a band running 

 clear' through from the Great South- 

 ern ocean to the tropical seas of the 

 northern boundary. After federation, 

 the commonwealth accepted the 

 northern half, which is now known as 

 "The Territory." Your readers will 

 now perceive the necessity for two 

 sub-divisions. 



South Australia is old in its ways; 

 sedate is the proper word. It is the 

 lucky owner of a calm exterior. It 

 has a big range, heavily timbered, 

 frowning down over the city, and its 

 beekeepeers are a calm, good-tem- 

 pered lot of people. But don't imag- 

 ine that their staid behavior pre- 

 clude^ them from effecting concerted 

 action when it comes to disposing of 

 their big crops — and they do get big 

 crops. Don't forget what we have al- 

 ready said about the Mate, for all the 

 bee-farms are in the southern por- 

 tion. In South Australia the big crops 

 are gathered from the ubiquitous "Gum 

 trees" or Eucalypts. There are 

 "Red" gum, (/:. rostrata), "White" gum 

 (E. paniculata), South Australia "Blue" 

 gum (E. leucoxylon), "Sugar" gum (£. 

 corynocalyx), "Pink" gum (E. fas. 

 two or more "Peppermints" (£. odorata 

 and E. amygdalina), "White" box (E. 



One of the Mendleso. 



hemiphloia var albens), and last but not 

 least, the remarkable and glorious 

 pink-flowered Eucalyptus calophylla z\ir 

 rosea. Now you must experience a 

 flow from the species named to appre- 

 ciate the immense quantity of nectar 

 secreted. Of course there are many 

 other shrubs and plants, not for- 

 getting that golden harbinger of 

 spring, the "Capeweed," already men- 

 tioned. All day long the bees roar in 

 the trees; mere humming is quite in- 

 adequate to describe it. When one 

 remembers that there are hundreds 

 of flower buds in a single group about 

 two inches in diameter and that the 

 whole tree resembles giant cauli- 

 flower when in bloom, some faint idea 

 is gleaned. 



The trees in South Australia are 

 more dwarfed in general, but for pol- 

 len and honey they are hard to beat. 

 Just at present the State Beekeepers' 

 Association is in abeyance for reasans 

 that are outside the ambit of these 

 articles. Along the Murray river 

 there are fruit gardens in abundance, 

 but the exportable crops are the 

 product of the gum trees. 



At one time the South Australian 

 Government interested itself in the 

 export of honey from that State and, 

 through its Agent General in London, 

 made a contract with a leading firm 

 of London caterers to place South 

 Australian honey on all its tables. 

 "Good biz," too. It also advanced so 

 much when honey was on board ship. 

 (By the way. the same State experi- 

 mented with "egg circles." that is to 

 say, the Agricultural Department or- 

 ganized a collecting system to gather 

 the "hen fruit" of the farmers' 

 "chooks") 



There are many up-to-date apiarists 

 in South Australia, but there is room 

 for thousands more, and some day. 

 when Europe quiets down and feels 

 "sweetish," there is going to be a big 

 banking account for some "Aussies." 



"The Territory." Now let us tell 

 you something about the northern 

 part of the State now controlled by 

 the commonwealth, named "the Ter- 

 ritory," best known to the Southern 

 States as the "Never Never." 



In spite of all written to the con- 



trary, central and northern Australia 

 is not desert-like in any one particu- 

 lar. We have not traveled across 

 Australia ourselves — dashed few have 

 ■ — but we have many photographs, and 

 more, the actual experience of an ex- 

 mounted constable who has "cob- 

 webbed" the immensity of the Terri- 

 tory at all seasons of the year. 

 There are mountains and great riv- 

 ers and pasturing places that "run" 

 stock by the 30,000 or 40,000 head. And 

 there are Eucalyptus trees in abund- 

 ance, and the ex-mounted man saw 

 two and three bees' nests in each 

 tree. Honey, wax and pollen in 

 abundance. 



But there we stop. The "Illumbria," 

 as the black aboriginals call the na- 

 tive "Gum" tree (E. tcsselaris) is a 

 splendid honey producer, but the bees' 

 nests are not those of the hive bee 

 (Apis mdiifcra), but of the tiny native 

 bee Trigonum. My friend says : the 

 grass grew as high as the saddle 

 flaps, the streams teemed with fish, 

 honey was everywhere, and carpenter 

 bees and mason bees, and occasion- 

 ally a black fellow crept after him to 

 launch a spear from the cover af- 

 forded by the rank growth of trees. 

 The blacks like honey and refer to a 

 wild bee-colony as "white pfellars 

 sugar bag." We Australians are only 

 just tickling the outside edges of our 

 country. When we wake up and "get 

 a move on" the United States won't 

 have a monopoly of "The States." 

 People will say, "do you mean the 

 States of Australia?" 



On the grassy plains of the Terri- 

 tory there are large herds of buffalo 

 and "good money" is earned by those 

 hunters who travel the vast areas to 

 shoot the animals for their hides; the 

 rest of the beast is permitted to de- 

 cay ; transport difficulties preclude 

 the utilization of the other portions. 

 Port Darwin is the sea port of the 

 north and some very large meat 

 works operate there, for the Terri- 

 tory is primarily a "meat" country. 

 Apiculturally, the Territory remains 

 a terra incognita. 



A telegraph line stretches across 

 the continent, and the linesmen who 

 live in small groups many hundreds 

 of miles from civilization, are always 



