A Swarm of Bees in May

This old beekeeping rhyme puts three swarms in order of value. A May swarm is worth a load of hay, a June swarm a silver spoon, and a July swarm scarcely anything. "Spune" means "spoon"; the older spelling makes the rhyme with "June" easy to spot.

Why did an early swarm matter?

When a honeybee colony swarms, a group of bees leaves with a queen and looks for a new home. A swarm that settles earlier in the season generally has more time to build comb and store food before winter. The rhyme turns that advantage into a memorable price list. The exact timing varies with local weather and flowering seasons.

Which version is this?

William Hone records this wording from a Warwickshire correspondent in the May 11 entry of The Every-Day Book. Other versions name different rewards. The key idea is the fall in value as the season goes on. Compare it with St Swithin's Day, another traditional rhyme that ties a prediction to the calendar.