160 City Homes on Country Lanes 



In San Francisco some years ago there was a Boys' 

 Bee Club, organized and directed by Ralph R. Bent, an 

 enthusiastic young bee man, who attracted a following 

 of all sorts and conditions, ranging from 8 to 25 years 

 of age. They had their apiary at Sausalito, across 

 the bay from San Francisco, where they all had a 

 chance to take practical lessons in bee culture. Many 

 of them turned out to be shrewd salesmen ; among them 

 a number of newsboys who made more money selling 

 honey than they did selling papers. They canvassed 

 the city for customers and found them readily on every 

 hand. 



It would be practicable to have such clubs elsewhere, 

 especially among the young people of the garden-city 

 homes, who would thus find profitable occupation for 

 their spare time, and incidentally get some good lessons 

 in salesmanship. In this way the surplus product from 

 a number of small garden-home apiaries could be dis- 

 tributed without dealing with middlemen. 



A densely-peopled garden city is not, however, the 

 place for apiaries aiming at commercial production; 

 at least, beyond such a small surplus as may be inci- 

 dental to home production. For one thing, it is quite 

 possible to have more bees than can subsist in a given 

 neighborhood; for another thing, it is possible to have 

 bees so numerous and active as to make it uncomfort- 

 able for the human inhabitants. Commercial apiaries 

 should be located in a more open country, and in lo- 

 calities particularly favorable to bee food, both in the 

 matter of cultivated plants and trees and of wild 

 growth. In the West, sage, manzanita and eucalyptus 

 are very productive, as are also the wide fields of al- 



