July, 1911.] 



19 



Live Stock, 



European Russia and of Siberia.— 9. 

 Bibliography of Co-operation (classified 

 according to Nations). 



II. Insurance. — 1. Germany. Insur- 

 ance of Butchers' Beasts. — Hungary, (a) 

 Bill on the Agricultural Workmen's Aid 

 Bank; (6) Communal Cattle Insurance 

 Societies. — Italy, Currant News. 



III. Non Co-operative Agricul- 

 tural Credit. — 1. Great Britain and 

 Ireland. Pacditations of Credit for the 

 Improvement or Reclaiming of Lands. — 

 2. Italy. Proposal for Reforming the 

 Organisation of Agricultural Credit in 

 Sardinia.— 3. Portugal. The New Legis- 

 lation on Agricultural Credit. — 4. Biblio- 

 graphy for the Subject of Credit. 



IV. General Agricultural Eco- 

 nomics— Germany. The Rise iu pnce of 

 Meat, its Causes and Remedies accord- 

 ing to a Recent Enquiry.— 2. Italy. New 

 Provisions for the Increase of the Zoo- 

 technic Industry. 



APICULTURE. 



The Blossoming of the Eucalyptus 

 and its Influence on the Product 

 of the Honey-bee from a Com- 

 mercial Standpoint. 



(From the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. XXVI., Pt. 3, March, 1911.) 



We had, not long ago, to remark upon 

 the singular reticence of most of those 

 engaged in farming pursuits, and in 

 what may be called the minor rural 

 industries. Amongst these are poultry- 

 breeders, bee-keepers, nursery-men, pig- 

 breeders, flower-gardeners, foresters, 

 naturalists, and many others. They may 

 make discoveries in their particular 

 branch of industry which might be 

 beneficial to many engaged in the same 

 line of business, but not a word do they 

 publish, and it is hard to get any inform- 

 ation even by paying a visit to their 

 holdings. It would seem as if they want 

 to keep everything dark for fear that 

 someone else might derive any benefit 

 by any publicity. A few years ago we 

 visited many parts of the State in the 

 interests of the farming and fruit-grow- 

 irTg community. We took photographs 

 of the most interesting crops, machinery, 

 stock, &c and described the farms and 

 the districts visited in this journal. 

 Amongst the very interesting places 

 visited were portions of the Blackall 

 Range, including Nambour, Eumundi, 

 Mapletou, Petrie's Creek, &c. Prom 

 Rockhamptou to Barcaldine, Cunna- 

 mulla, Thargomindah; from Cairns to 

 Redly nch, and thence to Kuranda, Ma- 

 reeba, Atherton, the Russell River, &c, 

 7 



we scoured the country for information 

 subsequently published in the interests 

 of the districts visited. What do we 

 hear now of the life of the settlers, of 

 their successes or failures ? Practically 

 nothing beyond a few meagre notes sent 

 by a newspaper correspondent to some 

 of the city and town journals, convey- 

 ing the information that rain is wanted 

 or not wanted, so that so many points 

 fell, or that the Shire Council decided 

 to put a culvert over a gully. As to 

 any detailed information about crops, 

 none is usually forthcoming except from 

 sugar-planters. What leads us to this 

 bit of sarcasm is that we have been 

 asked a question about the effect of the 

 eucalyptus on the product of the honey- 

 bee, but bee-keepers give us no inform- 

 ation on anything connected with bees 

 beyond a few items in the Queenslander 

 once a week. 



We can find no better answer to the 

 question mentioned than the following 

 extracts from a paper read at a meeting 

 of the Royal Geographical Society in 

 1895 by Mr. D. R. McConnel, M.A. :— " 



" Bee-keepers, like all others who are 

 engaged in rural production, should be, 

 and to a great extent must be, observers 

 of the out-of-doors manifestations of 

 Nature. To them the indications of a 

 honey-flow are all the more important 

 because the blossoms, which yield their 

 harvest are for the most part beyond 

 their cultivation or control. In no part 

 of the world has it been found profitable 

 to combine the harvesting of honey with 

 the growing of plants to yield the 

 nectar. The apiarist, therefore, is 

 thrown for his returns in some measure 

 upon the crops of neighbouring farmers, 

 but to a far larger extent upon the wild 

 blossoming of field and forest. His eye 

 is on the weeds of the byways and the 

 meadows, or scans the tree tops of the 

 woods- To him the burden of the clouds 

 is as momentous as to the agriculturist. 

 A heavy sudden storm may wash out 

 tons of nectar from the flower-cups, long- 

 continued wet may imprison and starve 

 his bees, and drought may wither up 

 the sources of his spoils. It is, therefore, 

 no idle curiosity which leads a bee- 

 keeper to narrowly observe, and, if 

 possible, make guiding deductions from, 

 variations of the weather and of the 

 efflorescence of honey-yielding plants. 



" Perhaps in no part of the world is 

 the native flora characterised by so 

 general and abundant a secretion of 

 honey as in Australia, and at the same 

 time by such capricious appearance of 

 its blossom. The former feature is 

 remarkable, because the honey-gather- 

 ing insects are comparatively tew, and 



