16 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



leaves and bark of trees, and expels them again 

 nearly unchanged. — Bevan. 



[From the Maine Farmer ] 



Popular Whims. 



Messrs. Editors : — You are men of sound 

 judgment and if perfectly agreeable to you I 

 would like to have the benefit of your opinion, 

 in regard to some of the "wliims" and peculiar 

 ideas so prevalent among some classes of peo- 

 ple, and particular!}^ among farmers. Kow, I 

 will not insult your inieiligenee by asking if 

 you believe in any sucli ihmg as "killing hogs," 

 "planiugpeas," &c., on the "full of the moon," 

 or that most ab'^urd of all absurdities, putting 

 an odd number of eggs under a lien so that she 

 may be more successful iu bringing forth her 

 brood ; but tliere is an idea iu regard to bees 

 that perliaps admits of an argument. It is said 

 that bees will not do well when kept by a fam- 

 ily where they have "broils," and also if any 

 one of the family dies and tlie hive is not " dres- 

 sed in mourning" the bees will leave. Kow 

 let me give a tew cases that have come under 

 my observation. A family — where they kept 

 bees — was called to part witli a loved one. 

 The funeral ceremony was over and the pro- 

 cession started from the house, and had gone 

 but a few rods when they saw the bees loUow- 

 iug them, they stopped, went and dressed 

 the hive in mourning and the bees returned. 

 Another case was this : A family received the 

 sad news that their son was killed in battle. 

 In a short time (I do not know the exact num- 

 ber of minuies) there was a stir among tlie 

 bees, and they were preparing to leave. The 

 hive was appropriately decked, and they re- 

 sumed their labor perfectly contented. In 

 another instance, a young man died. The fu- 

 nercM took place at the house, after which the 

 body was carried away twenty-five or thirty 

 miles, no procession following. No action 

 was taken in reg-ard to the bees, and strange to 

 say, they did not suspend operations ; and the 

 reason assigned was tliat no procession was 

 formed. In the same family, the husband died, 

 and the bee-house was not decorated, and of 

 course the bees refused to work. The wife 

 went out near the hive and said, "your master 

 is dead; now you must work forme." They 

 immediately went to tlieir work as busily as 

 before. 



Now, that these little creatures have a high 

 degree of intellect, we do not doubt ; while as 

 to architecture they have a knowledge that a 

 master workman might envy ; yet I pray you 

 tell me, how can they know whether a family 

 is happy or not? We cannot surely charge 

 them witli being eavesdroppers — they are too 

 industrious for that— and I hardly think they 

 are possessed of tlie faculty of reading faces, 

 and iu that way find out the family aff'airs. Or 

 can you believe that they know if I receive bad 

 news V And can we suppose, that we may con 

 verse with them, or rather to them ? What I 

 have related are simple facts, and there is an 

 air of mystery about it, that I cannot fathom ; 

 yet I do not, can not, believe the general idea 



in regard to them. Please give your opinion 

 and oblige. C. B. M. 



Upper Stillwater, May 27, 1867. 



Note. 1— We have so often given our opinion 

 concerning the so called influence of the moon 

 upon vegetation, the boiling of meat, the decay 

 or preservation of timber, &c., that it seems 

 hardly wonh while to repeat it. However, to 

 satisfy o ir correspondent we will say briefly 

 that we do not believe in any such influence. 

 The light of the sun flashes ninety five mil- 

 lions of miles and strikes upon the moon, 

 shining upon it equally all the time. A part 

 ot the time we upon this planet see the shade, 

 and apart of the time the reflection of the sun's 

 light But why this faint shadow, more than 

 two hundred thousand miles off has any more 

 to do with the growth of pea vines, the shrink- 

 ing of meat boiled in a pot, or the decay or 

 preservation of timber, than the barking of a 

 dog in China has on the churning of cream in 

 Nova Scotia, we acknowledge ourselves too ig- 

 norant to perceive. 



2 — The superstitions regarding bees, are quite 

 as familiar, and some of them seem certainly 

 mysterious. Quinby in his book about bees 

 has not a word to say about the matter, though 

 he cou d not have been ignorant of the reports 

 of similar occurrences to those mentioned by 

 our correspondent. Langstroth devotes half a 

 page to what he terms superstitions about bees, 

 mentioning a number of incidents like those 

 just related by our correspondent. One of them 

 is as follows: "A clergyman told me that he 

 attended a funeral, where as soon as the coftin 

 was brought from the house, the bees gathered 

 upon it so as to excite much alarm. Some years 

 after this occurrence, being engaged in var- 

 nishing a table, the bees alighted upon it in such 

 numbers, as to convince him, that love of var- 

 nish, rather than sorrow or respect for the dead, 

 was the occasion of their conduct at the fu- 

 neral. " We leave this ma«tter at present, with the 

 remark wbich Mr. Langstroth makes in his 

 book, "The Hive and the Honey Bee," after 

 relating the above instance: "How many su- 

 perstitions, believed even by intelligent per- 

 sons, might be easily explained, if it were pos- 

 sible to ascertain as fully all the facts connected 

 with them !" — Editors Maine Farmer. 



A HIVE should contain at least twenty pounds 

 of honey for its support during winter; but it is 

 a mistake to suppose that an increase of number 

 in the hive, produced by ^ln^on, will require aji 

 increased supply of food. In fact, precisely the 

 contrary is the case ; and the more abundant 

 the stock of bees in autumn, the richer and the 

 better able to work will they be in tlie spring — 

 the more forward, theretbre, will they be in 

 summer, and the greater will be your profits. — 

 Richardson. 



Honey may be clarified by placing the ves- 

 sels containing it in hot water, and continuing 

 to skim as long as any scum arises. In order 

 to preserve honey, it should be stored in jarg, 

 well bladdered and otherwise secured; and 

 kept in a dry place. 



