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 retiable information, of which we 
may avail ourselves in the future.” 
TASMANIA. 
This island, as the native place of the £. 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 Myrtacew and Leguminose, 
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 
