736 



GLEANIN(i!5 IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



for, aside from my duties as teacher, the gov- 

 ernment has commissioned me to give a score 

 of conferences in this province. I can thus 

 qualify myself as profosi-or of apiculture; and 

 this second picture shows Prof. J. Verlinden 

 giving a talk, and explaining the mysteries of 

 the hive. The third picture represents my 

 family— my wife and daughter, taken fobr and 



PKOF. VKRLINDEN INSTnUCTINC4 HIS CLASS IX BEE KEEPINii. 



a half years ago. [The first two being the best 

 I herewith reproduce them in half-tone. — Ed] 



Wasmes (Vom) is a city of 14,000 inhabitants, 

 in a mining district. It has two churches, six 

 brassworks. one tannei y, four coke-ovens, one 

 cork-factory, one manufactory of chicory and 

 coffee, one brewery, two distilleries, three 

 schools for boys and three for girls. On the 



south there is a woods. The honey flora is not 

 rich, hence there are not many bee-keepers. 



Born Nov. 4, 1860, I was appointed teacher in 

 school No. .3, in January, 1882. So for thirteen 

 years I have kept bees here. I have had 37 

 colonies; but to-day I have but 11. I shall in- 

 crease the number during the summer. 

 My straw hives are placed in a house-apiary 

 having a capacity for 12 

 hives. It faces the south. 

 The frames in the movable- 

 frame hives, Dadant-Blatt 

 type, are 16XxlO}^; the oth- 

 er frames are llf square. 

 The hives are placed along 

 a hedge, sheltered from the 

 prevailing southwest winds, 

 and face the east. The plan 

 of the apiary was adopted 

 two years ago. In front of 

 the house-apiary there is a 

 small space reserved for the 

 cultivation of certain plants 

 whose value as honey-pro- 

 ducers I desire to ascertain. 

 For example, there is borage, 

 of which I sowed a packet 

 of seed this year. Every year 

 I renew the plantation, and 

 make record of the going and 

 coming of the bees to these 

 flowers. That constitutes my 

 apicultural sport. Near the 

 house you see the poultry. 



I have the black 



bee of this country; but in 

 my apiary situated on the 

 land of Mr. F. Rainbeau, at 

 Grand Hornu,two miles from 

 here, I keep pure Italians. 

 Mr. R. is the Director of 

 Mines at 'Grand Hornu and 

 at , Marles,j France. He] was 

 Chief^Equerry under Napole- 

 on III., and heU'marriedthe 

 daughter of His- Majesty's 

 private secretary. He is very 

 rich," and intimately related 

 to the Rothschilds. 



The flora being ^rich here, 

 the honey-flow is of short 

 duration. May and June are 

 the two months when honey 

 abounds. Extracting is done 

 during the first half of July. 

 My he;iviest yield (1888) was 70 lbs. per hive. 

 The uvi'iHge is about 43 lbs. We get but little 

 section honey, as it is but little used. Comb 

 honey in frames is most used. Extracted honey 

 is widely used. 



After my honey is extracted I let it ripen in a 

 large can, so that the watery parts may come 

 to the top, and thus allow the denser part to 



