18 AUSTRALASIAN 



NATIVE FLORA. 



This is a matter to be dealt with more fully in the chapter 

 on bee forage ; it is only necessary to mention here, in 

 elucidation of this part of our subject, that the indigenous trees 

 are nearly all honey bearers. This is abundantly proved by 

 the amount of honey sometimes taken from colonies wild in 

 the bush. It is quite a frequent occurrence to take from 100 

 to 200 lbs. and very often more from these hives. This honey 

 could not, in many cases, have been gathered from any other 

 source than the bush, for as the colonies are sometimes found 

 eight or ten miles from any cultivation, and as the bee does 

 not usually exceed from one mile and a half to two miles' radius 

 in its flight, it follows that honey obtained from the hives 

 mentioned must have come exclusively from the indigenous 

 flora. If further proof be required, may we not find it in the 

 fact that the bee has so quickly and universally spread over 

 New Zealand and other parts of Australasia from a few 

 colonies 1 



The apiarist has not only the benefit of a splendid native 

 flora, but the climate being so well adapted for the growth of 

 all honey-producing plants of the old world, he is especially 

 favoured in this country. 



In Australia the native acacias and eucalypti are especially 

 valuable for bee forage, varying as they do in their times of 

 blossoming, so that some of them are available at almost any 

 season of the year. These trees also grow rapidly and thrive 

 well when introduced into New Zealand. 



IMPORTANCE OF APICULTURE AS AN INDUSTRY. 



The degree to which the production of honey may be de- 

 veloped in a comparatively short time will be best illustrated 

 by the case of the United States of America. Professor Cook, 

 in the last edition of his Manual of the Apiary, gives the 

 following picture of the present state of the industry : — " An 

 excellent authority places the number of colonies of bees in the 

 United States in 1881 at 3,000,000, and the honey production 

 of the year at more than 200,000,0001bs ; the production for 

 that year was not up to the average, and yet the cash value of the 

 year's honey crop exceeds thirty millions of dollars." G. W. 

 Mead and Co., of San Francisco, in their annual review issued 



