There is an intriguing talk this Thursday on late 17th century glass hives. GLASS! In this 1772 example, bees entered the bottom section then moved up through a hole into the middle section to build a hive. Then a hole was opened into the top glass section where the bees continued making honey combs on the two cross bars.
The bees are out enjoying all the dandelions from all the rain. This 1869 image depicts the "three classes of bees" and how the swarm leaves the beehive to "settle upon a limb" then placed in the wooden box. The author clearly was not allergic, boasting "no protection to face or hands." Don't try this at home!
Dijon, France produced 60,000 pounds of buckwheat honey - very dark and too strong for "table use" but perfect for gingerbread, according to The British Bee Journal of 1906. Other types of honey would sink after the gingerbread had risen. However, a British author in 1848 wrote that the "French, whose gingerbread is vile stuff, use honey instead of
treacle." Recipes for honey gingerbread - medieval to early 20th - near end of post. 
"Why does the old lady knock with her key on a frying-pan?" Bees swarm when the hives "be too much crowded by the young brood" and the weather warms in late April or May. To settle/calm the bees into an empty hive people would beat a kettle, pan or ring a little bell. Perhaps to sound like thunder or it was done to claim ownership of the swarm.
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