.Tl'LY 1." 



President Collins showing a thrifty, three-year-old nrrcn. Whrn Vccs are sentle Mr. Collins never wears 

 hat, gloves, nor veil; and where is the smoker.' 



SOME BEEMEN I HAVE KNOWN 



Introduction to the Series 



BY WESLEY FOSTER 



One can not fully understand the pi'in- 

 ciples of beekeeping' which enter into the 

 success of a beekeeper unless he knows 

 something- about the man mentally, morally, 

 and physically. The man is the factor to 

 be considered. In these little biographies 

 1 hope to give my readers a more or less 

 accurate view of the men iuYolved, and, by 

 so doing, bring out to view the reasons for 

 iheir success with bees. If one can see the 

 man he can see wliy and how he raises good 

 crops of honey. And then, again, one is 

 more interested in the men than in their 

 bees, any way. 'lis human nature to Avant 

 to know our fellows. 



I can not write of these men's faults. 

 The faults do not add to tlieir success, and 

 will not be mentioned. 



In telling of the men I will drift into 

 a description of their work and surround- 

 ings, which is inevitable. Psychology has 

 declared that a man's clothes are literally a 

 part of him, the same as his body is; and 

 so I shall consider that I am treating of a 

 man's personality when I tell of his apiary, 

 auto, honey-horse, smoker, or hive-tool. 

 We are now off for a merry visit with the 

 first one of oui' friends. 



W. p. COLLINS, BOULDER, COLO. 



In the year 1898 or 1899, upon my re- 

 turn liome from s-^hool one eveninti' niv 



father was talking bees with a stranger in 

 the road that passed our house. This 

 stranger had a thin bony fram.e, and the 

 clothes he wore accentuated the angularity 

 of his frame. He leaned against his bicycle 

 and told of his beekeeping e.xperiences in 

 Wisconsin, from which he had come but 

 recently — bringing fifty colonies in a car 

 with his household goods. Father talked 

 foul brood with him, and the peculiarities 

 of Colorado as a bee country. This stran- 

 ger* with withered and freckled face, large 

 features, and sandy hair, soon proved to bo 

 a good talker, with a brain working like 

 chain lightning. He talked bees and so- 

 cialism, telling of the initiative, referen- 

 dum, and recall in Switzerland, and other 

 phases of the socialist movement too nu- 

 merous to ri^^iition. He was the first so- 

 cialist I had ever met. A graduate of Wis- 

 consin, coming out west to practice law, 

 and bringing fifty colpiiies of bees Avith 

 him, such was and is Mr. W. P. Collins, 

 now president of the Colorado State Bee- 

 keepers' Association. He has increased his 

 beekeeping interests, and still practices law 

 on the side, and Avorks in socialist propa- 

 ganda at all times. 



Mr. Collins is a fast worker, as any one 

 will soon realize who Avorks with him for a 

 day. His system of Avork is to do the most 

 important thing as it comes to hand. I 

 want to tell a story, that may have groAvn by 

 retelling before it reached my ears. One 

 day during honey harA-est our sandy-haired 

 friend brouuht in a load of lioncA', unhitcji- 



