March. 1911. 



American Hee Journal 



Wesley Foster 



The subject of this sketch started 

 bee-keeping two generations before he 

 was born, and with such a record it is 

 not strange that he has been kept irre- 

 sistibly in the straight and narrow path 

 marked out by the honey-bee. He was 

 early enticed to this busy worker, by 

 testing her sweetened product at the 

 capping-box in the e.xtracting-rooni. 

 and his joy in her service was complete 

 when at tj years of age he earned the 

 munificent sum of one cent an hour for 

 nailing section-holders! At 9 he en- 

 tered the secret chamber of man's sov- 

 ereignity when he hived a swarm of 

 bees barefoot. 



While going through the high school 

 he paid most of his expenses by assist- 

 ing his father in the care of the bee- 

 yards, and at 18, in partnership with his 

 brother, borrowed $-500 to purchase 1 tO 

 colonies of bees, and paid for them the 

 first season, with money left over for 

 the bank account. At that time the 

 boys were managing about 3.50 colo- 

 nies, always running the bees for comb 

 honey. 



At the present time Mr. Foster is 

 Secretary of the Colorado State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, and having an- 

 cestry, youth and ambition as his as- 

 sets, there seems to be no doubt that 

 he will do his best to make a bee-line 

 for success in his chosen field. 



Mrs. Wesley Foster. 



[Well, that's good so far as it goes, 

 Mrs. Foster. But you have left us to 

 imagine a whole lot. 



Mr. Foster surely has been keeping 

 bees a long time if he has been at it 

 "two generations before he was born!" 

 N'o wonder you failed to say how old 



he is; nor when he was married, etc. 

 But, then, we have his picture, so it will 

 not be difficult to "estimate" several 

 things. 

 Mr. Foster conducts the " Far West- 



Wesley Foster. 



ern Bee-Keeping" department of the 

 American Bee Journal, and no doubt 

 from time to time he will let in further 

 rays of light upon his career, which 

 has been so closely identified with bee- 

 keeping for a century or more, accord- 

 ing to Mrs. Foster's statement. — Ei>.] 



Bee-Keeping ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emm.'v M. Wilson. Marcnuo. 111. 



ors. If one should have on one hand 

 a white glove, and on the other a black 

 one, and neither were stung, of course 

 there would be no proof either way. If 

 both were stung alike, it would look 

 like proof of indifference on the part of 

 the bees, yet still it might be said that 

 when bees are cross enough they will 

 sting any kind of color, dark or light. 

 And so they will. But if the dark 

 glove receives more stings than the 

 white one, and that occurs not once, 

 but at different times, it looks a good 

 deal like proof that bees feel more an- 

 tagonistic toward black than white. In 

 this locality the proofs have appeared 

 sufficiently strong to make it seem ad- 

 visable to wear light clothing when 

 working with the bees. 



Mrs. M. E. Pruitt seems to have made 

 good use of her powers of observation, 

 and when she finds bees selecting the 

 black spots of a black and white cow, 

 and the dark chickens in a flock of 

 dark and light ones, one can hardly 

 blame her for thinking bees more 

 likely to sting dark than light colors. 

 She says in Gleanings in Bee Culture: 



On one occasion we had dealings with an 

 enraged colony, and I thought I would iust 

 pull a couple of black stockings over my 

 hands inot bein^ able to tind iny gloves at 

 the moment) so that I could replace a couple 

 of frames and inu on the cover so that they 

 would not so easily tletect the scent of stings 

 already received. Oh. how I wished I hadn't! 

 They just simply covered my hands; and 

 when I retired from the lield the color of my 

 " gloves " was changeci from black to pepper- 

 and-salt. 



The year before last 1 was wearing a navy- 

 blue skirt, and tlie bees seemed to delight in 

 puncturing it. I changed the navy-blue for 

 a light tan. and all was peace. 



We have a Holstein cow. and every time 

 she passes by the yard, and the bees are 

 irritated, they invariably make for the black 

 spots. 



When we are hitching up the sorrel and 

 the bay horse I notice they begin operations 

 on the black mane of the bay. When we 

 havethe black horse and one of the others 

 together, the black comes in for the most 

 points. 



Our white chickens are not molested when 

 scratching in the yard; but the Minorcas 

 are allowed to stay hardly long enough to 

 locate a hunting-ground. 



When bees want to sting a person they 

 generally make for the shaded parts, such as 

 about the eyebrows, behind the ears and in 

 the nostrils: and. oh. what a tender spot 

 that is' 



Discouraged Through Foul Brood 



I have been somewhat discourajied with 

 the bees, as I have been trying to fiyht foul 

 brood for two years. I think I have it about 

 conquered, when it will leak out again, as 

 there are neighbors whose bees have the 

 disease. They do not take care of their 

 bees, and do not know what is the matter 

 with them. Mrs. L. Mack. 



Three Rivers. Midi.. Veh. 20. 



Possibly you may learn to look upon 

 foul brood as a blessing in disguise. 

 Your careless neighbors who do not 

 take care of their bees, and do not 

 know what is the matter with them, 

 are likely to be the ones who spoil 

 your market by selling honey for away 

 below a decent price. Sooner or later 

 the disease will probably drive them 

 out of business, while you can keep on 



and produce crops in spite of the dis 

 ease. 



We don't dread foul brood as we did. 

 To be sure, it did look somewhat dis- 

 couraging to have more than half a 

 hundred colonies on the bad list, and 

 we surely had a time of it, but then it 

 looked worth all the trouble when last 

 year we got several tons of beautiful 

 honey. Don't be in too much of a 

 hurry to be discouraged, sister. 



Bee-Stings and Color of Clothing 



Difference of opinion continues as to 

 whether bees are more likely to sting 

 through dark than light clothing'. In 

 the nature of the case it is hard to offer 

 proof that bees are indifferent to col- 



Qneen Shooing the Bees to Work 



One of the li colonies of bees in my 

 apiary seems to be on a continual hus- 

 tle, the bees turning double somer- 

 saults on the board when alighting, 

 they are in such a hurry to get to the 

 hives with their cargo of honey. The 

 queen is one I got in connection with 

 a bee-paper, and it seems 1 can hear 

 her shooing the bees out to work, tell- 

 ing them that their owner is a hustler 

 herself, and that they must be the 

 same. The other •"> colonies are not 

 such hustlers, and will be beggars be- 

 fore spring. Ohio Bee-Woman. 



(Season of 1910.) 



Foul Brood Cause and Cure 



Dkak .Sisi kk Hkk-Kkkl'Khs. -It seems a 

 long while since we have had a paper talk 

 together; though I've read carefully and 

 with much interest the doings and experi- 

 ences as related in our corner. 



It is certainly very pleasant to know the 

 little items of peculiar importance in our 

 various climates and loc.ilities that are re- 

 ported, and the expedients resorted to in 

 emergencies, and the enthusiasm and enjoy- 



