Many of those involved with beekeeping development will be sad to hear of the death of Professor Gordon Townsend. Gordon Townsend was Professor of Apiculture at Guelph, Canada between 1945 and 1980, and also served as airman of the IBRA Council from 1968 to 1983. Gordon Townsend worked with a wide range of beekeeping and was, for example, instrumental in establishing the project in Guinea Bissau (below). Many of his former students from Africa and Asia now hold positions of responsibility in their home countries, and will remember him with affection.
CTICAL BEEKEEPING
CANDLE MAKING USING BEESWAX by Héléne Couture and Denis Guzzi
At the Fourth International Conference
on Apiculture in Tropical Climates held in Cairo in November 1988 delegates heard from Janet Maxwell and Pierre Rousseau of the candle-making technique which has been developed by the MRDP/CECI beekeeping project in Gabu region, Guinea-Bissau. The introduction of this simple candle-making method using local beeswax was a key success in the early stages of the project, motivating beekeepers to participate in the project. Following many requests for further information, the original inventors of the idea, Denis Guzzi and Héléne Couture have kindly provided the following guide. This is a simple method of making candles using materials which can be found in most villages where honey is collected. The following instructions are the result of numerous experiments to obtain the best possible results (slow burning and maximum luminescence) but with simple production methods. Candles made in this way for domestic and religious use represent an interesting source of revenue for the craftsman turned seller for they compare favourably with imported candles and they even look similar. Our hope in producing the following guide is that anyone who follows the directions will easily make candles of good quality. Materials and basic equipment required
Clean beeswax, thin boo canes, honey, 500 ml), saucepan, some leaves (Figure
cotton string, bama tin can (about water, a knife and 1).
Figure 2. Slivers of wood resting in notches cut into the bamboo will hold the wick in place. Mould preparation Collect some straight bamboo canes and cut into 13cm lengths. Choose 8
Figure 3. Measuring the cotton string ready to make the wick.
Figure 4. Plaiting the wick.
sections with an internal diameter of about 21 mm (usually fully-grown bamboo corresponds best to these dimensions). Choose canes with thick walls — their deterioration will be slower. At each end of the mould cut two
equal notches. Then make two slivers of bamboo slightly longer than the width of the mould ~ the slivers will be inserted into the notches to hold the wick. The notches with slivers of wood in position can be seen in Figure 2.
