BEE MANUAL. 285 
A. lophantha, common wattle. 
A. decurrens. black wattle. 
A. dealbata, silver wattle. 
A. pycnantha, golden or broad leaf wattle. 
A. longifolia, long-leaf wattle. 
A. melanoxylon, lightwood or blackwood. 
ee 7. A, undulata, Kangaroo Island prickly acacia. 
Of these, the most valuable as bee forage in this country is the 
first (notwithstanding the objections referred to by Mr. Bonney), 
as it blooms luxuriantly from May to August, both months 
inclusive, and sometimes also in April and in September, and 
during all that time affords ample stores of both nectar and 
pollen ; so that where these trees are convenient, bees cannot 
know what want is during the late autumn and the whole of 
winter. Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are the sorts valuable as producing 
tanners’ bark ; they are all great nectar and pollen producers 
in July and August. No. 5 is an evergreen shrub, with long 
lancet-shaped leaves, which blossoms luxuriantly from July to 
September, but which also exudes nectar from a pore in the 
upper edge of the leaf, near the stalk, and furnishes food for 
the bees in that way for a couple of months before the blossom- 
ing time. It is thus available for bee forage (and is a great 
favourite with the bees) from early in May until the end of 
September. No. 6 is somewhat similar to the last as regards 
its leaves and blossoms, but is a tree, not a shrub, and one 
of the largest of the acacias. No. 7 is used as a hedge plant, 
and flowers from the beginning of August to the middle of 
October; it is therefore available as bee forage when all the 
other acacias are out of bloom, but at atime when there is 
generally abundance of other spring forage. 
EUROPEAN PLANTS AND TREES. 
The climate of New Zealand and of most parts of the Aus- 
tralasian colonies is so favourable to the growth of many 
European plants, that we already enjoy the advantages of most 
of the old-world bee forage. The clovers (and especially white 
clover), which are the sources of probably the finest quality of 
honey, not only grow well when sown in pasture or meadow 
