THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS 5 JOURNAL. 
35 
super, -while three others are filling- in brood 
frames at the side of the brood nest, and will 
be ready to move up in a week or two if flow 
of honey continues. This, I think, very good 
work for an amateur with no previous experi- 
ence of bar frames ; but the important point is 
the source of revenue, knowing that this is 
what is usually termed the off year for honey. 
On this point I was informed that the supply 
came in the spring from clover which flowered 
very freely on account of quantity of rain 
later from peppermint, box tree, and a few 
gums, but at the present time bees are work- 
ing well upon that much-abused plant, the 
Scotch thistle, which flourishes even in some 
of the streets of South Melbourne, and is to 
be found over the length and breadth of the 
country. This plant supplies both pollen and 
honey, the bees returning to the hive looking 
like millers — dusted all over. In addition to 
this many small flowers abound in the bush, 
which all yield more or less honey and pollen. 
In travelling through the country 1 particu- 
larly noticed that on the ranges the box trees 
are now flowering very freely, to be followed 
in a short time with peppermint, and a few 
blue gums here and there, but everywhere 
gums of all sorts were freely budded for next 
season, and you will doubtless have a grand 
flow next year from the Eucalyptus. 
All up the railway line, and in many places 
I passed, I observed bees in the old gin case 
hive at work, and the question put, lto your 
bees pay? always brought the answer, Yes, 
very well. One man told me about 30s. a year 
per hive. If this is so under the old style, 
how much better would the result be by using 
the bar frame and extractor, to say nothing of 
section honey. I was anxious to take a run 
to Gippsland, having heard splendid accounts 
of honey prospects there, but want of time 
forbade ; but from what I saw and heard 
in the north-east, it is beyond speculation that 
a little attention will yield handsome profits. 
In fact I was credibly informed that many of 
the selectors ill that district were enabled to 
pay their yearly rental simply from 1 he money 
supplied by keeping a few boxes of bees. 
I should now like to show something of the 
other side of this pleasing picture, and which 
constitutes the strongest possible argument 
for the adoption of the bar-frame hive. To 
my di-may 1 found that foul brood had made 
its appearance in the six colonies of bees above 
referred to, or rather in four of them, and 
this notwithstanding the amount of prosperity 
shown. 
How it came there, or from where, are 
questions not easily answered. My own 
opinion is that the fungoid is carried hy the 
bees from some plant to the hive, and that an 
all-wise Creator has so determined that a 
check may be kept upon a too rapid increase 
of the race. Investigation gives to man the 
knowledge of the presence of this disease, 
and the way to overcome it. It is just here 
where the bar-frame shows its utility, enabling 
the apiarist to detect the first presence of 
disease, and then to treat for its cure, which 
may be easily effected by a little careful appli- 
cation of remedies already proved by many 
successful apiarists. Note, by the way, that 
success in beekeeping depends upon careful 
attention to details, as laid down by men of 
experience. For instance, it would be sheer 
folly to go from a diseased hive to a healthy 
one without first well washing the hands in a 
strong disinfectant, such as carbolic acid ; and 
yet scores of beekeepers never get entirely 
free from foul brood, simply by ignoring this 
necessary precaution, and so with other 
measures already proved as useful and neces- 
sary. 
In the case referred to I have little fear but 
that the disease will be easily stamped out, as 
the bees are now under treatment under 
Cheshire’s system of Phenol. 
Doubtless you will from time to time give 
considerable space to the consideration of this 
subject. I shall be pleased at some future 
occasion to give my experience re the treat- 
ment of this plague, having had already con- 
siderable experience of it. 
In conclusion, I would beg to urge the 
adoption of a standard frame throughout the 
colonies, and am glad that your evident lean- 
ing is toward the Langstroth. It is conclu- 
sively proved here to be by far the best for 
practical purposes, and has been generally 
adopted throughout this colony, thus giving 
to beekeepers an easy method of interchange, 
and simplifying all the operations of the 
apiary. — Yours, 
L. T. C. 
Adelaide, 1st February, 1886. 
NEW BOOKS, REVIEWS AND 
EXTRACTS 
FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
Thu late journals from both England and 
America are chiefly occupied with articles and 
correspondence on wintering , a matter that is 
of small interest to most Australian beekeepers, 
for there is scarcely a day throughout our 
winter on which bees cannot fly and even get 
stores, except in cases where the apiary is 
over 2000 feet above the level of the sea. 
There is one important and interesting item, 
however, which should be noted — that is 
the question ot the shiny bee, or bald hie 
disease, which many of our correspondents 
