284 AUSTRALASIAN 



"There are many tropical and European trees, shrubs, plants, etc., 

 cultivated here, that yield good supplies of excellent honey, blooming 

 at various periods during the warm months, yet, as a rule, not culti- 

 vated in sufficiently large numbers in any localities to supply any 

 number of stocks with a particular kind of honey. Clover is not much 

 cultivated ; so we do not obtain 'clover honey.' Lucerne is largely 

 grown in localities near town ; and where it is allowed to bloom and* 

 mature, I believe the bees work on it well, In the neighbourhood of 

 orange orchards bees gather very fine honey from thence ; still our 

 principal source is eucalypti, which affords a very sweet article, ranging 

 in colour from amber to dark orange ; wild flowers and grasses, too, 

 yield nectar. I am not able to state if any of the latter grow in suffi- 

 cient numbers to grade honey as from such sources, or detect by the 

 flavour from whence it is secured. 



"As the industry progresses, and keener observation is awakened, 

 we shall be able to glean much more reliable information, of which we 

 may avail ourselves in the future. " 



TASMANIA. 



This island, as the native place of the E. globulus, or Tasma- 

 nian blue gum, is well supplied with that and other varieties, 

 as well as with acacias. Mr. Hood informs me that amongst 

 the native trees, "the different varieties of the eucalyptus, box, 

 and lightwood are splendid honey producers. When the box 

 is in bloom, a friend tells me, ' you would think there must be 

 a swarm of bees in each tree.' Immense quantities of honey 

 are got from the bush. One friend tells me he felled a tree in 

 which there were three large colonies of bees, and secured 

 630 lb. of honey." There are also large quantities of a native 

 heath which affords good forage for bees. Its splendid native 

 flora, fruit orchards, and beautiful climate must altogether 

 make Tasmania a grand country for apiculture. 



EUCALYPTI AND ACACIAS IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Von Hochstetter, when comparing the native flora of New 

 .Zealand with that of Australia, mentions as a very remarkable 

 fact, "that under the families of Myrtacece and Leguminosce, 

 exactly those genera which are most numerously represented 

 in Australia, the eucalypti and acacias, are entirely wanting in 

 New Zealand, although when introduced there they flourish 

 with extraordinary luxuriance." The latter observation is so 

 true, that the different varieties of gum trees and wattles which 

 have been already introduced here are likely, in course of time, 

 to become as general as in Australia, if we except the great 

 natural forests, and confine ourselves to the plantations in 



