AUSTRALIAN HONEY PLANTS 275 



some pollen. If the humming of the bees is any criterion 

 the plant yields honey freely. However, the plant is a 

 hardy native, and showy enough for the most fastidious 

 gardener. What are our city florists thinking of to 

 overlook the Mintbush? 



Melaleuca. These plants are generally referred to 

 as ' ' scrub ' ' by the bushmen. This word ' ' scrub ' ' is very 

 comprehensive; it embraces Tea tree, the stool shoots of 

 Eucalyptus, Dogwood, Hazel, or any other undergrowth 

 in the Australian forest. 



Melons, {Cucurbita melo). All the Melon and 

 Pumpkin family are valued friends of the bee-farmer. 

 The flowers bear enormous quantities of orange-coloured 

 pollen during the dry months of the Australasian summer 

 ■ — generally a period of nitrogenous famine. Years ago 

 a farmer neighbour^ — ^who owned a rich river flat — was 

 advised to sow Pumpkins for pig food. To make sure of 

 a crop he was also directed to secure a hive or two of 

 bees — as there were none close at hand — to attend to the 

 pollination of the blossoms. He laughed heartily over 

 the latter portion of the advice, but subsequently called 

 on the author for confirmation or otherwise of the 

 information tendered. 



Fortunately the results of a number of experiments 

 were at hand, and the absence of fruit on a branch of a 

 tree covered with netting to exclude insect visitors, was 

 duly explained. Needless to say the absence of fruit 

 was a most convincing argument. He was further shown 

 the necessity of having honey-bees in glass-houses devoted 

 to the culture of cucumbers : how the little insects carried 

 the pollen from the male to the female flower, and so saved 

 the grower the trouble of having to do the work with a 

 camel hair brush and a paper screw. Finally he pur- 

 chased a hive of bees, and the resultant crop of pumpkins 

 was the heaviest recorded for the district. The pumpkins 

 were piled high in heaps, a striking testimony to efficient 

 pollination. 



