FLY WATER.—The following preparation, without endangering the lives of children, or other incautious persons, is not less fatal to flies than a solution of arsenic. Dissolve two drachms of the extract of quassia in half a pint of boiling water, add a little sugar or syrup, and put the mixture in plates.—F. E. W. TO AVOID INJURY FROM BEES.—A wasp or bee swallowed may be killed before it can do harm, by taking a tea-spoonful of common salt dissolved in water. It kills the insect and cures the sting. Salt, at all times, is the best cure for external stings; sweet oil, pounded mallows, or onions, or powdered chalk made into a paste with water, are also efficacious. EFFECTUAL METHOD OF CURING THE STINGS OF BEES AND WASPS.—The sting of a bee is generally more virulent than that of a wasp, and with some people attended with very violent effects. The sting of a bee is barbed at the end, and, consequently, always left in the wound: that of a wasp is pointed only, so that they can sting more than once, which a bee cannot do. When any person is stung by a bee, let the sting, in the first place, be instantly pulled out; for the longer it remains in the wound, the deeper it will pierce, owing to its peculiar form, and emit more of the poison. The sting is hollow, and the poison flows through it, which is the sole cause of the pain and inflammation. The pulling out of the sting should be done carefully, and with a steady hand; for if any part of it breaks in, all remedies then, in a great measure, will be ineffectual. When the sting is extracted, suck the wounded part, if possible, and very little inflammation, if any, will ensue. If hartshorn drops are immediately afterwards rubbed on the part, the cure will be more complete. All notions of the efficacy of sweet oil, bruised parsley, burnt tobacco, &c., appear, on various trials, to be totally groundless. On some people, the sting of bees and wasps has no effect, it is therefore of little consequence what remedy they apply to the wound. However, the effect of stings greatly depends on the habit of body a person is of; at one time a sting takes little or no effect, though no remedy is used, which at another time will be very virulent on the same person. I have had occasion to test this remedy several times, and I can safely avouch its efficacy. The exposure to which persons are subjected during the hot summer months, will no doubt render the advice very useful, its very simplicity making it more acceptable.—W. F. C., _Islington_.