1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



957 



NOISE AND SWARMING BEES. 



BY PROF. EDWARD F. BIGELOW. 



The following item has been published re- 

 cently by several newspapers: 



BELLS AND BEES. 



It is a foolish notion to suppose that the ringing of 

 bells or " tanging " of tin pans will cause a swarm of 

 bees to settle. The origin of this custom dated back to 

 the reign of Alfred the Great, who, in order to prevent 

 disputes regarding the ownership of a swarm, ordered 

 that the owner should always ring a bell when his bees 

 swarmed, and ever since then the good farmer's wife 

 has been rushing out with ringing bells whenever the 

 bees swarmed; and the fact that they settled verified, 

 in her own mind, the belief that the bell did it. 



The ringing of bells may or may not be a 

 "foolish notion." This much is, however, 

 to be said in its favor. It is not so foolish 

 as the explanation of the origin of the cus- 

 tom is false. This so-called explanation is 

 an insult to all country people who have 

 practiced tl;ie custom of making a variety of 

 noises at swarming time. The custom has 

 never been limited to the ringing of bells 

 and the pounding of tin pans, but includes 

 also throwing dirt, yelling, shooting at the 

 swarm, flashing light from mirrors; in fact, 

 old and young at such times have always 

 joined in a regular Fourth-of-July demon- 

 stration with a general pandemonium of 

 noises. Surely Alfred the Great did not 

 promulgate all these to maintain ownership, 

 neither has any other royal authority done 

 so. I wrote to the Professor of History in 

 each of three leading universities, and every 

 one says that Alfred the Great never issued 

 such an edict. I quote from Prof. Charles 

 Beard, of Columbia University, while letters 

 with practically the same statements were 

 received from the others: 



I have looked up the question of Alfred's edict on 

 bees. I can find no record of such an edict among the 

 documents that have come down to us from Alfred's 

 day. It is probably an old custom attributed, like most 

 early English institutions, to Alfred. I regret that I 

 have not been able to find any traces of the origin of 

 the tradition. 



Such items, going the rounds of the news- 

 papers in a variety of forms, are evidently 

 due to the dreams of some space writer. 

 Their only value is so much a line to the 

 originator. 



What appears at first thought to be an in- 

 teresting explanation of a common old-time 

 country custom is the rankest of insults. 

 Our fathers, grandfathers, and the members 

 of their families may have been mistaken, 

 but they were not so foolish nor so nearly 

 insane as to unite in a work for which they 

 could give no reason, and from which they 

 derived no benefit. Their theory was that 

 any kind of confusion forced the bees to 

 alight because the noise prevented them 



from following the leadership of the queen. 

 And may not this theory have at least some 

 truth in it? Country people are pre-emi- 

 nently practical, and not much given to the- 

 orizing. There must have been results to 

 have made such a custom widespread for 

 generation after generation. Even our im- 

 aginative reporter admits age to the custom, 

 carrying it as far back as the time of Alfred 

 the Great! Many a country-born and coun- 

 try-bred person will tell you that he recalls 

 many an experience in boyhood days of run- 

 away swarms forced to ahght by some kind 

 of hubbub, or a confused uproar of discord- 

 ant sounds. Practicing the custom may 

 have been ludicrous, and doubtless it was in 

 many respects; but the theory seemed rea- 

 sonable. Flight requires leadership— call it 

 the leadership of the queen or " the spirit of 

 the swarm," or what you please. Confus- 

 ed, irregular, and violent vibrations must 

 interfere with this leadership, especially 

 when such highly organized and sensitive 

 creatures as bees are concerned. 



Drive a flock of sheep on a country road. 

 Three or four will make a dash for a cart- 

 path into the woods, or through the lowered 

 or fallen bars. Throw a stone among those 

 few, confuse them, and their leadership is 

 at an end. No more sheep go aside. Sheep 

 are not so highly organized, neither have 

 they so delicately balanced a nervous system 

 as bees; but, stupid as they seem, if you 

 throw stones ahead of the flock, all are 

 checked or stopped. 



I know that a writer on the subject of 

 "Bees," in Appleton's "New American 

 Cyclopedia," says, "It is generally irritat- 

 ing to the bees, and unnecessary if not use- 

 less, to endeavor to make the swarms col- 

 lect by a din of horns, tin pans, and bells." 

 Irritating to the bees? Of course it is, and 

 that is exactly what it is intended to be. I 

 have been familiar with the process from 

 my earliest youth: it is among my first ex- 

 periences and recollections; and although my 

 personal antiquity does not reach quite back 

 to the time of the Great Alfred, yet what 

 has always been done must have a good rea- 

 son for its continuation in modern times. 

 One of the most pleasing recollections of my 

 boyhood is a remembrance of the sudden 

 outburst of a rattling tin pan, and of the 

 ringing of an iron pot lustily beaten by my 

 bee-keeping neighbors. That discordant up- 

 roar lent speed to my feet, and got me 

 through the fence with unconscious alacrity, 

 to find Aunt Annie, with lips compressed 

 and a look of determination on her face, 

 beating a tin pan with the poker, and Uncle 

 Joseph leaping about the garden path, hat- 

 less, coatless, but vehemently pounding an 

 iron pot with his cane. The air was full of 

 bees, and full of a clamor that filled me with 

 delight. " Get a pan, child alive, and be as 

 quick as you can! Pound, now— pound hard 

 —I can't lose this swarm." And she never 

 did. My noise was above all other noises, 

 you may be sure, and the swarm always 

 alighted on the pear-tree above the original 

 hive. 



