582 AUSTRALASIAN 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Mr. Thomas E. Willis, to whose kindness I am indebted for 

 much information with reference to bee culture in New South 

 Wales> reports on the bee forage of that colony as follows : — 



" The honey eeason on the coast takes place in spring, whilst inland 

 the summer is the best season ; this is owing in a great measure to 

 the vast forests of gum trees being then in full bloom, whilst on the 

 coast there is a profusion of winter and spring flowers and golden 

 wittles, the latter being a favourite with the bees. The principal 

 bush trees about Sydney are, spotted gum,* black butt.f iron bark,+ 

 woolly butt, and honeysuckle : from all these the bees derive susten- 

 ance I have also noticed them on the large flowers of the dogwood, 

 a kind of dwarf gum. In Baron Miiller's Botanic Teachings, he 

 mentions the honey eucalyptus ( E. mettiodora) as a favourite with bees, 

 as its blossom^ exude much nectar, and also the Cape honeysuckle, or 

 Protea mellifera. The Wigandm ca.raca.sana, which keeps in flower 

 from August till November, is an especial favourite with the bees ; it 

 has large leaves, about eighteen inches by twelve, and bears numerous 

 spikes of blue flowers ; it is an ornamental shrub, and thrives well in 

 gardens about Sydney. It is a native of America, tropical and sub- 

 tropical." 



SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



With reference to the district immediately around Adelaide, 

 Mr. A. E. Bonney informs me that the chief sources of the 

 honey crop are the blossoms of the Eucalypti : — ■ 



"These trees, of which there is a great variety, flower on the plains 

 from December to the end of March, and on the hills from October to 

 March. The quality of the honey is very fine. Perhaps the most 

 valuable is E. rostrata (red gum), which produces a copious flow of 

 honey during January and February. In spring the dandelions, or 

 Cape marigold, yield a large harvest, but the honey is of poor quality. 

 In favoured localities, such as Mount Barker, the honey season lasts 

 all the year round ; but as a rule, from January 1st to February 28th 

 may be called the honey season. At Mount Barker, Mr. Justice Bou- 

 cant has been getting surplus honey during the past eighteen months; 

 also one of my colonies has been filling section boxes for eleven months, 

 Only stopping for four weeks whilst I was treating them for foul-brood. " 



Acacias, or wattles, are also plentiful here as elsewhere in 

 Australia. The black wattle (A. decurrens) and the coast wattle 

 are described as furnishing very good bee forage on the south- 

 east coalst. Mr. Bonney, in writing to the New Zealand and 



* E. goniocalysc. t E. pilularis. { E. leucoxylon. 



