_Valentine's Day_ (Vol. v., p. 55.).--Your correspondent J. S. A. will find the following notice of a similar custom to the one he alludes to in Mr. L. Jewitt's paper on the Customs of the County of Derby, in the last number of the _Journal of the British Archæological Association_: "Of the latter (divinations) there is a curious instance at Ashborne, where a young woman who wishes to divine who her future husband is to be, goes into the church-yard at midnight, and as the clock strikes twelve, commences running round the church, repeating without intermission-- 'I sow hemp-seed, hemp-seed I sow, He that loves me best Come after me and mow.' Having thus performed the circuit of the church twelve times without stopping, the figure of her lover is supposed to appear and follow her." J. _Nottingham Hornblowing._--About the beginning of December the boys in and around Nottingham amuse themselves, to the annoyance of the more peaceable inhabitants, by parading the streets and blowing horns. I have noticed this for several years, and therefore do not think it is any whim or caprice which causes them to act thus; on the contrary, I think it must be the relic of some ancient custom. If any of your correspondents could elucidate this, it would particularly oblige STOMACHOSUS. _Bee Superstitions--Blessing Apple-trees--"A Neck! a Neck!"_--The superstition concerning the bees is common among the smaller farmers in the rural districts of Devon. I once knew an apprentice boy _sent back_ from the funeral _cortège_ by the nurse, to tell the bees of it, as it had been forgotten. They usually put some wine and honey for them before the hives on that day. A man whose ideas have been confused frequently says his "head has been among the bees" (buzzing). The custom is still very prevalent in Devonshire of "hollowing to the apple-trees" on Old Christmas Eve. Toasted bread and sugar is soaked in new cider made hot for the farmer's family, and the boys take some out to pour on the oldest tree, and sing-- "Here's to thee, Old apple-tree, From every bough Give apples enough, Hat fulls, cap fulls Bushel, bushel boss fulls. Hurrah, hurrah!" The village boys go round also for the purpose, and get some halfpence given them for their "hollering," as they call it. I believe this to be derived from a Pagan custom of offering to Ceres. The farmer's men have also a custom, on cutting the last sheaf of wheat on the farm, of shouting out "A neck! a neck!" as they select a handful of the finest ears of corn, which they bind up, and plait the straw of it, often very prettily, which they present to the master, who hangs it up in the farm kitchen till the following harvest. I do not know whence this custom arises. WILLIAM COLLYNS, M.R.C.S. Kenton.