Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-11-06
TRADITIONS ABOUT BEES.
Those Insects Object to Be Kept by Quar-
reIsOme Family

relsome Family
There Is probably no insect in which
mankind takes more interest than the bee.
says the London Standard, and there GER
talnly is none around which so MANY
superstitions have clustered from time i'm
memorial. The Important part the busy
bee mas ever played in our domestic life.
how its deeds have been sung by our poets
and moralized on by our preachers it is
not proposed to dilate on here; but some
of the current superstitions connected with
1t, though very amusing may not be gen.
orally known. Primarily, quarrelsome
people, If inclined to live in the country
and keep BEES are warned to mend their
ways, Or their hives will soon become de-
serted. Bees may be. and we believe are.
they strongly object, so say the country
quarrelsome family, we are assured, will
get no honey, keep as many bees as they
may. Another good example set bv them
is that they object to thrive if dishonesty
come by; on the contrary, they forthwith
pine away and die. thereby showing a
highly commendable respect for the
eighth commandment. And if they must
not be stolen, neither must they be sold
10 sell them for money Is considered a
most unlucky proceeding, but they may be
bartered away, and all will 60 right
busLel of corn was always considered
a fair equivalent for a swarm, y. a small
pig would be taken in exchange. So long
as the bees are.bartered they are happy, but
to be ''guilty of selling them is grievous
omen indeed. than which nothing can be
more dreadful - Evidently their self,respect
is toucned, and they refuse to work for an
owner WI has bought them into slavery.
Their sympathy with mankind and his
troubles were shown in a variety of WAYS.
1t IS a common saying in Hampshire that
bees do not succeed at all in storing up
honey whenever there are wars abroad A
large bee-keeper says he has constantly
noticed this during the last European wars,
though ordinary people will reflect that
they can not remember any great scarcity
OF honey at those particular times But
the most commonly accepted belief is that
the bees IN certain cases share our troubles,
and this Is more particularly noticeable in
connection with death.
In some districts the entrance of bum
ble-bee into cottage is looked upon as a
certain sign Of death, and in others their
swarmlng upon piece of dead wood is re-
garded as equally ominous. A story is
told of the wife of a respectable cottager,
living in Sussex, who died in child-b
whose husband accepted the blow quite
philOsophically, because he said they had
been warned of the event fortnight be-
fore her confinement The woman went
into the garden and saw that their bees,
in the act of swarming. had made choice
place. This is considered an;infallible token
of approaching death in the family, and
in this instance it is more than probable
that the prediction brought about its own
fulfllment
Informing bees of death in the family
is custom still, we believe, practiced in
many parts of England. The necessary
formalities were very precise, and if they
were not fully comformed with the bees
would certainly take offense and leave their
hives never to return. So universal was
the custom few years ago that an inquiry
after a cottager' s bees would occasionally
elicit some such reply as this: ''They have
all gone away since the death ofpoor Dick,
for we forgot to knock at the Dives and tell
them he was gone dead" The answer
would be given with as much gravity as if
the speaker was relating how her hen roost
had been devastated by a fox, or her pigs
had died of swine fever. If neighbors
we're talking Of the death of a friend some
one in the company would most likely won
der if the bees had been informed of the
sad circumstance, and would be comforted
by reply in the affirmative, and that a
piece Of the funeral cake had been deposit
ed in their hives. A correspondent writing
on this subject says this superstition is
common among the small farmers of
Devon. he once knew an apprentice boy
sent back from the funeral cortege by the
nurse to tell the bees of it, as it had been
forgotten, and to make up for the omis-
sion, IL little wine and honey was put In
front of the hive as a solace to the inmates
in their preSumable sorrow. In some dis
tricts the country people go even further
than this. Not only do they on a death
occurring deck their apiaries with Grape
after duly informing the inmates of the
cause, but they invite the bees to the
funeral