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THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
and transmitted from one generation to another, 
because there is a use and necessity for it. As 
the bees are possessed of a certain amount of 
inteligence we shall expect to find that they 
will drop this habit when they find that they 
have not the same need for their barricades in 
their new circumstances. With us the rose- 
beetle is not so plentiful that it should be 
reckoned as an enemy of bees, and therefore 
shall expect that the bees in time will abandon 
the barricading. They will not probably do so 
at once, but may take several generations before 
they entirely give it up. Of course, if the 
race is crossed the habit would probably be 
bred out very rapidly. We should be glad to 
hear whether the Minorcan bees reared by Mr. 
Abbott and other gentlemen have been noticed 
to possess this peculiar characteristic. We do 
not think the bees have been tried long enough 
out of their native country to speak positively 
as to their good or bad qualities ; at any rate the 
past season was too bad to give them a fair 
chance . — British Bee Journal. 
HYBRIDIZATION BY BEES. 
(BY A MILDURA GARDENER.) 
In a recentissue of the Cultivator there appeared 
a note from the Mas sachus sets Ploughman about 
the hybridization by bees. It was asserted that 
bees, when gathering honey, visit the same class 
of flowers until this source of supply gives out, 
when they look lor fields and pastures new. As 
an example, apple trees were mentioned, and it 
was said that through this habit of visiting the 
same kind of plants hybridization was prevented. 
I suppose the reader to be fairly well acquainted 
with the process by which fertilization takes place. 
We will, for example, stick to our apple trees. 
Supposing there are ten varities grown, the bees 
will visit one as well as the other, carrying on 
their legs and hairy body the fertilising element 
(the pollen) with them. It is clear that by these 
means hybridization between the different varieties 
is possible, in fact takes place. It is a well 
established fact that bees, and insects in general, 
have a large share in, and in some cases are indis- 
pensible to fertilisation. It may not be generally 
known that the pollen of some plants keeps its 
fertility for a considerable time, so it is just pos- 
sible that some pollen of an early flowering species 
may, adhering to the body of an insect, be eventu- 
ally transferred to a late species, and so fertilise 
it. This power of the pollen has in many instances 
been used to raise new varieties between species 
of a different time of flowering. To prevent 
hybridisation it is essential to have the plants 
from which it is desired to raise seed perfectly 
isolated from all external influences. They have 
to be sheltered from the slightest wind, and 
covered with wire or mosquito netting of the 
smallest possible mesh, to prevent insects visiting 
them. Mildura Cultivator. 
EUCALYPTUS HONEY : ITS 
PROPERTIES. 
Beekeepers will be pleased to see it announced 
upon the high authority of Mr. T. Christie, 
London, in “ New Commercial Plants and Drugs,” 
No. it, that eucalyptus honey is destined to figure 
as of great importance both as nutriment and as a 
therapeutic product. Analyses of the honey by 
Mr. C. Herisson, director of the Chevrier 
Laboratory. Paris, show that it posesses all the 
valuable principles found in the Eucalyptus tree. 
The analysis shows : — Sugar (mostly laevoluse), 
611.6 ; ash, 1.8; moisture, 215.6; active principles 
of eucalyptus, 170.0; total, rooo.o Various 
attempts were made by Mr. Herisson to artifi- 
cially obtain this honey by mixing the various 
ingredients together with ordinary honey, but it 
was found that no amount of careful stirring, and 
other treatment, would prevent the active 
principles of the eucalypt from separating and 
gradually volatilising. Eucalyptus honey, filtered 
at a temperature of 68 deg. Fahr., presents the 
appearance ofa thick transparent and homogeneous 
syrup, of a deep orange colour, with an odour 
which at once points to its source. It is very 
soluble in milk, water, and wine, but less in 
alcohol ; it is difficult to ferment on account of the 
large proportion of sugar it contains. Its action 
upon dogs, when given in milk, produced a slow- 
ing of the heart’s action, and a surprising diminu- 
tion of the pulsations; in one case from 12410 
even as low as 70 per minute. Upon himself the 
doctor found it, if taken in warm milk, to yield a 
most pleasant beverage, and to produce, after a 
few minutes, an agreeable sensation of warmth in 
the body, the active principles of the honey being 
eliminated through the larynx and the bronchial 
tubes, rendering the voice clearer and more 
resonant ; and the breath became perfumed and 
the lungs acted in a freer and more elastic manner. 
After taking the honey for a week the doctor said 
he could take voilent exercise without any strain 
being felt. “ Eucalyptus honey,” says Mr. 
Christie, “ with its 612 parts per thousand of pure 
sugar, will take a leading place among nutriments ; 
it will prove an important substitute for cod liver 
oil in cases of bronchitis, phthisis, Ac., while as a 
sedative to the heart, as a febrifuge, as an 
antiseptic, and antiparasitic, it would appear 
to be second to no other product.” This 
is indeed high praise, and we hope further 
experimentation will endorse the conclusions 
drawn from Mr. Herisson ’s studies. Mr. Christie 
mentions several instances of its good effect in 
cases of whooping cough ; also in typhoid fever 
and bronchitis. — Queenslander. 
AMERICAN SEEDS. 
Figwort, Spider Plant, Motherwort, Horsemint, 
Catnip, White Sage, Rocky Mountain Bee 
Plant. Assorted packets, 2s. 6d. and 5s. 
BEEKEEPERS’ SUPPLY C0„ 
Franklin-street, Melbourne. 
