164 



OLD WEST SURREY 



By local custom a wandering swarm, worth from eight to 

 ten shillings, is the property of any one on whose place it 

 settles, though of course it is not claimed among good 

 neighbours when the one Avho hives it knows where it came 

 from. But often a swarm flies far before settling. Any 

 clanging noise is supposed to stop its flight and induce it to 

 come down, and there was thought to be a special attraction 

 about the noise of an old ploughshare beaten on with a 

 heavy door-key. In the month of May, when the first 



Butter Scales with Wooden Pans 



swarms may be expected, there is often a spare new straw 

 hive in the back-kitchen, and in the older days a plough- 

 share was also in readiness. The door-key was always hand} 7 . 



There were generally some cottagers within a few miles' 

 distance who made straw hives during the winter and early 

 spring. They were bound together with a lacing made of 

 thinly-shaved hazel or withy. Now they are mostly made 

 by wandering gipsy people. 



Wooden scales for weighing butter were used of old in the 

 farms. The scale-pans hung by tapes : the beam was of iron. 



