240 MONEY IN" BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



soils. It bears handsome flowers in the spring. Some 

 blossoms are white and some pink; occasionally the 

 flowers are almost red. The plants are too well 

 known to go into details. Unlike the European Heath 

 the Epacris yields very little honey, so that it is never 

 seen on the market, whereas the heather honey of Great 

 Britain cuts quite a figure among the English people. 



Ericaceae (Poisonous). Some of the species are very 

 handsome and make effective garden plants. Unfortu- 

 nately the honey from one species {Kalmia lati folia) 

 produces severe sickness if eaten. 



EUCALYPTUS. 



GUM TREES. 



No plants in the world yield honey equal in quantity 

 to the indigenous trees of Australasia referred to as 

 "Gum Trees." There are 200 or more recorded species 

 of Eucalypts and with one or two exceptions, the genus 

 is limited to Australasia and its southerly island. The 

 name Eucalyptus is very appropriate, being derived from 

 the Greek eu, well and kalypto, I cover. If we study the 

 buds of any Eucalypt we will notice a "cap" covering 

 the upper "half" of the bud. In one Western Australian 

 species — the "Yate" tree {E. cornuta) — the cap or 

 operculum is horn-shaped and about three times the 

 length of the calyx or lower portion of the bud. Some 

 of the caps on buds of the ' ' Red ' ' box tree are very small. 



The Eucalypts have been classified according to the 

 structure of the flower and again from the formation and 

 disposition of the bark. Because this latter method of 

 differentiation is most apparent to general observation 

 it is most popular with bee-farmers. For instance we have 

 1st Gum trees with smooth, soft, thick bark, e.g. "Red" 

 gum, {E. rostrata) and "Blue" gum (E. globulus) ; 2nd 

 Box trees (in two subdivisions), one with solid, hard, 

 short-fibred bark, which extends to the highest limb, e.g 

 "Apple" box (E. Stuartiana) ; with others the bark is 

 confined to the trunk or bole with the upper branches 

 smooth and clean, e.g., "Yellow" box {E. melliodora) ; 



