AUSTRALIAN HONEY PLANTS 249 



bush be "white with bloom" little or no honey is gathered. 

 At other' times, when the season is favourable, the trees 

 may have very little blossom, yet the yield of honey is 

 something to be remembered. The author's experience is 

 that wind from any quarter will check the yield of honey. 



An abnormal growth of wood, i.e., the tall trunk of the 

 Mountain gum (Eucalyptus regnans) with very little 

 foliage, absorbs the surplus starch that would otherwise 

 be converted into nectar. It is generally true that the 

 "poor" land, e.g., rocky mountainous country, gravelly 

 foot hills, and "thin" sandy soils, all carry stunted, 

 dwarfed, timber with the large spreading "tops" so 

 eagerly sought -after by bee-men. This class of land 

 rarely produces good mill logs. On the other hand the 

 deep rich volcanic soils of the wet districts carry some of 

 the tallest timber in the world — not excepting the giant 

 Pines of California. These trees have trunks perhaps 

 150 feet high without a single branch, and the scattered 

 tufts of foliage that crown the lofty columns afford little 

 or no nectar for bees. 



The flow of honey from the Eucalypts is astonishing 

 when the conditions are just right; it does not always 

 cease at night. Mr. Pender, Editor of the Australasian 

 Beekeeper, New South "Wales, reported his bees working 

 on a flow during bright moonlight nights. Yields of 

 400 lbs. of honey per hive during the working season are 

 not unknown, and the author is personally in touch with 

 an apiarist who harvested 20 tons of honey from 153 

 colonies, all gathered within a space of 3 to 4 months. 



At odd times a flow of honey has been reported but 

 where the supply came from was quite unknown. Here 

 is a sample from Mr. Mcllveen, of Elsmore, New South 

 Wales. "In 1908 I obtained about 3 tons of honey from 

 some source quite unknown to me. It was delicious honey 

 and I have had none of it since." This gentleman is a 

 keen observer and the author can bear him company in 

 his statement. 



With this general outline of the conditions favourable 

 for a flow from the Eucalypts the author here presents 



