Part 11 (1/2)

Or, in other words, ”you must plant your trees in the fall of the leaf.”

And again, ”Apples, pears, hawthorn-quick, oak; set them at All-hallow-tide and command them to prosper; set them at Candlemas and entreat them to grow.”

In Germany,[4] too, there is a rhyme which may be thus translated:--

”When the hawthorn bloom too early shows, We shall have still many snows.”

In the same way the fruit of trees and plants was regarded as a prognostication of the ensuing weather, and Wilsford tells us that ”great store of walnuts and almonds presage a plentiful year of corn, especially filberts.” The notion that an abundance of haws betokens a hard winter is still much credited, and has given rise to the familiar Scotch proverb:--

”Mony haws, Mony snaws.”

Another variation of the same adage in Kent is, ”A plum year, a dumb year,” and, ”Many nits, many pits,” implying that the abundance of nuts in the autumn indicates the ”pits” or graves of those who shall succ.u.mb to the hard and inclement weather of winter; but, on the other hand, ”A cherry year, a merry year.” A further piece of weather-lore tells us:--

”Many rains, many rowans; Many rowans, many yawns,”

The meaning being that an abundance of rowans--the fruit of the mountain-ash--denote a deficient harvest.

Among further sayings of this kind may be noticed one relating to the onion, which is thus:--

”Onion's skin very thin, Mild-winter's coming in; Onion's skin thick and tough, Coming winter cold and rough.”

Again, many of our peasantry have long been accustomed to arrange their farming pursuits from the indications given them by sundry trees and plants. Thus it is said--

”When the sloe tree is as white as a sheet, Sow your barley whether it be dry or wet.”

With which may be compared another piece of weather-lore:--

”When the oak puts on his gosling grey, 'Tis time to sow barley night or day.”

The leafing of the elm has from time immemorial been made to regulate agricultural operations, and hence the old rule:--

”When the elmen leaf is as big as a mouse's ear, Then to sow barley never fear.

When the elmen leaf is as big as an ox's eye, Then say I, 'Hie, boys, hie!'”

A Warwicks.h.i.+re variation is:--

”When elm leaves are big as a s.h.i.+lling, Plant kidney beans, if to plant 'em you're willing.

When elm leaves are as big as a penny, You _must_ plant kidney beans if you mean to have any.”

But if the gra.s.s grow in January, the husbandman is recommended to ”lock his grain in the granary,” while a further proverb informs us that:--

”On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang a drop, You are sure of a good pea crop.”

In bygone times the appearance of the berries of the elder was held to indicate the proper season for sowing wheat:--

”With purple fruit when elder branches bend, And their high hues the hips and cornels lend, Ere yet chill h.o.a.r-frost comes, or sleety rain, Sow with choice wheat the neatly furrowed plain.”

The elder is not without its teaching, and according to a popular old proverb:--

”When the elder is white, brew and bake a peck, When the elder is black, brew and bake a sack.”