246 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



extremely hard timber with the grain often ' ' in locked. ' ' 

 The buds are covered with an operculum or cap, the peak 

 of which is less pronounced than that of its Murray River 

 prototype. The honey is much darker yellow in colour 

 and when heated a white scum rises to the top. This latter 

 feature is quite unlike that of the ' ' Eiver Eed ' ' gum. 



Under chemical analysis the honey from the various 

 species shows wide divergence. This is also true of the 

 flavour. It is remarkable that no two species yield honey 

 of exactly the same flavour. Apiaries separated from 

 each other only 5 or 6 miles show very different results. 

 On the next page will be found a table of analysis of 

 various honeys. 



As pointed out in another place, some of the honey 

 gathered from the different species has earned rather a 

 bad reputation. This is due — in some cases at least — to 

 the dwindling of the bees whilst working on the honey- 

 flow; but stranger still, a Victorian apiarist has 

 noticed that on various occasions the honey in 

 blossoms of the Ironbark is quite visible, and when 

 a branch is shaken nectar is distributed in quite a shower. 

 Yet the blossoms were not visited by the bees. Whether 

 this is due to some peculiarity of the honey or to some 

 abnormality of the bees is not known. There is here 

 a splendid field for scientific investigation. 



Eucalypts, when "rung" by the grazier, produce much 

 unseasonable bloom and bees work eagerly on the nectar. 

 Possibly honey secreted under such circumstances is 

 deficient in some of the elements. necessary for the main- 

 tenance of bee life. That the honey from any plant 

 during normal life should be detrimental to insects it is 

 hard to believe. Nevertheless the tannic acid content is 

 sufSciently high in some honeys to affect honey-bees 

 adversely. There is also another factor to consider : some 

 of the Eucalypts — Yellow box for instance — yield splendid 

 crops of honey, but stocks of bees working on it dwindle 

 down to mere handfuls. This is no fault of the honey; 

 it is due to the small quantity of pollen produced. 



