286 AUSTRALASIAN 



lands, but spread rapidly over the still uncultivated lands in 

 the neighbourhood. Dandelion, or capeweed (something differ- 

 ent from the British dandelion, but equally good as bee forage), 

 is very abundant, and thistles, which furnish a very good honey, 

 spring up everywhere, for a time, in newly laid down lands, and 

 spread themselves along the roadsides and into the waste or 

 fern lands, wherever these have been for a while used as cattle 

 runs ; they thus become a very considerable source of the honey 

 supply in some parts of the country. The white thorn, sweet- 

 briar, and furze, or gorse, are all more or less used in different 

 districts as hedge plants ; and whatever objections there may 

 be to the two latter sorts on the score of their spreading over 

 the lands and being troublesome to eradicate, wherever they 

 do occur they can only be welcome to the bee-keeper. Fruit 

 blossoms of all sorts are valuable in spring, and the willow, 

 which is here a widely spread tree, is one of the earliest sorts 

 of spring bee forage. 



It may be interesting here, before proceeding to notice some 

 particular sorts of honey-bearing plants and flowers, to copy an 

 alphabetical list given in the work of Thomas Nutt, an English 

 apiarist, who wrote in 1832, as a catalogue of British "trees, 

 plants, and flowers most frequented by bees," and all of which 

 either are already or may easily be cultivated here.. 



"Alder, almond, Altheafontex, alyssum, amaranthus, apple, apricot, 

 arbutus (alpine), ash, asparagus, aspiii, balm, bean, beech, betony, 

 blackberry, black currant, borage, box, bramble, broom, bugloss 

 (viper's), buckwheat, burnet, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cherry, 

 chestnut, chickweed, clover, cole (or coleseed), coltsfoot, coriander, 

 crocus, crowfoot, crown imperial, cucumber, currants, cypress, daffo- 

 dil, dandelion, dogberry, elder, elm, endive, fennel, furze, golden-rod, 

 gooseberry, gourd, hawthorn, hazel, heath, holly, hollyhock (trumpet), 

 honeysuckle, honey-wort (cerinthe), hyacinth, hyssop, ivy, jonquil, 

 kidney-bean, laurel, laurustinus, lavender, leek, lemon, lily (water), 

 lily (white), lime, liquid amber, liriodendron, lucerne, mallow (marsh), 

 marigold (French), marigold(single), maple, marjoram (sweet), milielot, 

 melon, mezereon, mignonette, mustard, nasturtium, nectarine, nettle 

 (white), oak, onion, orange, ozier, parsley, parsnip, pea, peach, pear, 

 peppermint, plane, plum, poplar, poppy, primrose, privet, radish, 

 ragweed, raspberry, rosemary (wild), roses (single), rudebchise, saffron, 

 sage, saintfoin, St. John's- wort, savory (winter), snowdrop, snowberry, 

 stock (single), strawberry, sunflower, sycamore, tamarisk, tansy 

 (wild), tare, teazel, thistle (common), thistle (sow), thyme (lemon), 

 thyme (wild), trefoil, turnip, vetch, violet (single), wallflower (single), 

 woad, willow-herb, willow tree, yellow weasel-snout." 



