258 MONEY IN BEES IN ATJSTKALASIA 



honey "we get from the same kind of tree here. Ours 

 candies in less than a week after extracting. It is the 

 only honey we have any trouble with. We sometimes put 

 it aside until we get time to liquefy it. The Eed gum 

 blossoms every third year here and yields a great 

 quantity of honey for about three weeks. ' ' Like all other 

 Eucalypts this species sometimes fails to live up to its 

 reputation. Here is an extract from a letter received 

 while corresponding with a Northern Victorian apiarist. 

 "Although Eed gum failed, Yellow box has again proved 

 itself the bee-keeper's stay, and up to the present is still 

 in bloom. In this district Grey box has proved the most 

 reliable of any this season. It began to bloom early in 

 February, and at the date of writing is yielding nectar 

 freely, also pollen. This makes six successive flows, some 

 light, but most were good to fair. Of course, only one-half 

 bloom alternately. I would like to know if this is 

 usual, in other districts. Taking the last six years Eed 

 gum has yielded once, consequently only one-sixth 

 quantity of honey was harvested. We find ourselves 

 wondering why bee-keepers set their hearts and hopes 

 on the so-called King of the Forest — Eed gum." A yield 

 of 400 lbs. per colony was once harvested from this Eed 

 gum in Western Victoria. 



Red Gum (Forest), {E. tereticornis). This is the 

 Blue gum of Queensland. From the Latin, teres, 

 rounded, and cornu, horn. This Eed gum is usually 

 found as a forest tree on drier formation than the Eiver 

 Eed gum. It is very similar in appearance to the above- 

 named tree, except that the peak of the flower buds is 

 less pronounced. Ten tons of honey have been harvested 

 from 160 colonies working on an open forest of this 

 variety. The honey is amber-coloured and (unlike that of 

 Eiver Eed gum) when heated to 150° a fair amount of 

 scum will rise. It blooms more or less every year, but 

 yields a crop only every three years. This is the Eed gum 

 mentioned in the above remarks on Mr. Pope's sample 

 of South Australian honey. As there remarked, this 

 honey candies quickly. 



