234 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



Basswood (Tilia). See "Exotic Trees." An 

 American honey-tree, largely planted for ornamental 

 shade. 



Buckwheat, (Fagopyrum) is gaining favour in 

 Victoria as fodder for pigs. The author once sowed some 

 Buckwheat which showed green above the ground 3 days 

 after planting. It was a mass of white bloom, but no 

 bees were ever observed on it, and the hives certainly had 

 no dark honey in them. However it equalised matters 

 bj" yielding an extra large crop of grain. The clusters of 

 tiny white flowers produce an abundance of honey in 

 the United States of America. The honey is darker than 

 any produced by Australian native plants. The American 

 apiarist Alexander once had 700 colonies of bees in one 

 apiary on a Buckwheat location in New York State, U.S.A. 



Beans, (Phaseolus nanus). Now grown as a farm 

 crop in various States and yielding rather thin pale honey 

 in spring (late). 



Borage, {Borago officinalis L.). A Mediterranean 

 plant brought to this Continent with impure seed and has 

 spread to a limited extent in the extreme south. The 

 star-shaped blue flowers bear pale honey and yellow 

 pollen all through spring and summer. 



Blackberry (i?MfeMS fruiticosus L.). G-enerally found 

 in the moist portions of the States along creek frontages, 

 etc. It acts as a splendid soil binder, thus preventing 

 erosion of banks. Introduced to Australia from 

 Europe and Asia, it has overrun some districts to the 

 exclusion of everything else. In these places it yields 

 water-white thin honey and green-coloured pollen during 

 the spring and summer months. 



Boxthorn {Lycium horridum, Thunb). A native of 

 Africa brought to Australia — goodness knows what for — 

 and farmers paid 2s. 6d. per oz. for the seed as a hedge 

 plant. It spread, and was proclaimed a noxious weed, so 

 the farmer now pays about 2s. 6d. per plant to grub it 

 out. It gives white honey and creamy pollen the year 



