118 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL 
be protected by very thick woollen gloves ; but 
they are clumsy things, and the bees will sting 
them repeatedly when the bare hands would not 
be attacked. All who desire to become bee- 
masters will abandon gloves when they consider 
that every bee that stings the gloves or hands 
dies, and they will find the occasional stings they 
are sure to get trouble them less and less, 
until, in time, neither swelling nor irritation will 
follow. 
Many remedies are recommended to relieve the 
pain occasioned by a sting, and often what suits 
one person will have no effect upon another, but 
it may be worth while to mention that when a 
sting is received it should be removed without 
pressure upon the poison-bag which adheres to it. 
Push the string out with the back of a pen-knife 
or a finger-nail, and then apply a drop of liquid 
ammonia to the wound. This in most cases will 
soon put an end to all discomfort. 
One caution is necessary. Never use more 
smoke than is required, and avoid jarring the hive 
or the combs. The more steady your hand and 
the more deliberate your manner, the less smoke 
will you need. Run from a snappish dog if you 
want him to bite you, and keep shrinking from a 
threatening bee if you want a sting. Keep firm, 
and you will save your bees and fingers, and your 
smoke into the bargain. 
( To be co7itinued.) 
Reports from Australian ^.ptarirs 
ORBOST. 
The honey flow up here this season is some- 
thing to be remembered. The mahoganys have 
been in bloom these last five weeks, and are 
likely to last five or six weeks longer. Thou- 
sands of flying foxes have arrived as soon as 
they began to bloom. They came to feed on 
the mahogany blossom. You can see the honey 
in them with the naked eye, and the flowers 
don’t open all at once, but open in succession 
for close on three months. Birds give up robbing 
fruit trees and go after them. The mahogany 
did not bloom for three years. They do. as a 
rule, every other year. How is honey selling in 
Melbourne? I think I shall have two tons above 
what I can get rid of locally. 
John F. Hofex. 
Orbost, May 3, 1889. 
©orrespon&enn’. 
To the Editor of the Australian Bee-keepers' 
Journal. 
Sir, — We have this day packed for shipment 
per mail steamer Victoria 8 cases o£ Victorian 
honey consigned to the Agent-General for 
Victoria, London. This lot is for exhibition at 
the forthcoming show of agricultural products, 
to be opened at Windsor during next month. 
The bulk of this packing is to order of the Agri- 
cultural Department, and comprises honey of 
varied flavours gathered from different parts of 
the colony and at different times of the year. 
These samples will receive close inspection from 
the judges and those interested. We feel con- 
fident that this lot of honey will take lots of 
beating, and should command a place in the 
prize list. At the close of the Exhibition the 
honey will be sold, and proceeds remitted, so 
that we shall be able to judge of the probable 
value of our honey in the London market. 
If it is at all possible to have comb honey 
handled carefully to insure its arrival in sound 
condition, the home market would probably be 
able to consume all that could be supplied by 
us. A good export trade could be opened up, 
which should leave plenty of room for shippers’ 
profits, seeing that our honey could be offered at 
a time when little if any other honey was in the 
market. With the facilities now offering for 
safe and speedy transit, it is well within the 
bounds of possibility that this trade may be 
opened. When we take into consideration the 
vast resources we have in this colony, and the 
comparative ease with which a payable crop of 
honey may be secured, to which may be super- 
added the fact that the quality is first-class, it 
really seems as if this industry were going 
a-begging. — Yours faithfully, 
B-K— S— Co. 
May 2, 1889. 
(Extracts. 
FOUL BROOD. 
Spring Care of Bees— How to Distinguish 
Foul Brood. 
Written for The American Bee Journal by 
Randolph Graden. 
As the winter has been very mild and pleasant 
for bees, so far they have wintered well ; but as 
the most trying time is yet to come, it is necessary 
to see that they have plenty of stores, for if the 
warm weather should continue through February, 
the bees will start breeding early, and consume 
considerable honey. 
As March and April are very trying months for 
bees, too much care can hardly be given them, 
so that the brood does not get chilled. Colonies 
that are expected lo be short ©f stores, or are 
weak in appearance, should, when the weather is 
warm enough to admit of so doing, be examined, 
and the brood chamber contracted to suit the size 
of the colony, and, if short of stores, they should 
be fed. 
Colonies that are not doing as well as they ought, 
or are not doing as well as those around them, 
should be examined to see if they have a queen, 
and if not, a queen should be given them, or a 
frame of eggs and brood, so they can rear their 
own queen. They ought also to be examined to 
see if they are affected with the disease called 
“ foul brood ” (or bacillus alvei), as we hear that 
there is a great deal of that disease in the country 
