On further inquiry, it has been found that the superstitious practice,
formerly mentioned,[1] of informing the bees of a death that takes place
in a family, is very well known, and still prevails among the lower orders
in this country. The disastrous consequence to be apprehended from
noncompliance with this strange custom is not (as before stated) that the
bees will desert the hive, but that they will dwindle and die. The manner
of communicating the intelligence to the little community, with due form
and ceremony, is this: to take the key of the house, and knock with it
three times against the hive, telling the inmates, at the same time, that
their master or mistress, &c., (as the case may be,) is dead!
[1] See page 75.
Mr. Loudon says, when in Bedfordshire lately, "we were informed of an old
man who sung a psalm last year in front of some hives which were not doing
well, but which he said would thrive in consequence of that ceremony. Our
informant could not state whether this was a local or individual
superstition."--_Magazine of Natural History_.
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