The Folk-lore of Plants Part 11

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."

According to an old proverb, "You must look for gra.s.s on the top of the oak tree," the meaning being, says Ray, that "the gra.s.s seldom springs well before the oak begins to put forth."

In the Western Counties it is a.s.serted that frost ceases as soon as the mulberry tree bursts into leaf, with which may be compared the words of Autolycus in the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 3):--

"When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh! the doxy over the dale, Why, then conies in the sweet o' the year."

The dairyman is recommended in autumn to notice the appearance of the fern, because:--

"When the fern is as high as a ladle, You may sleep as long as you are able.

When the fern begins to look red, Then milk is good with brown bread."

Formerly certain agricultural operations were regulated by the seasons, and an old rule tells the farmer--

"Upon St. David's Day, put oats and barley in the clay."

Another version being:--

"Sow peas and beans on David and Chad, Be the weather good or bad."

A Somersets.h.i.+re piece of agricultural lore fixes an earlier date, and bids the farmer to "sow or set beans in Candlemas waddle." In connection with the inclement weather that often prevails throughout the spring months it is commonly said, "They that go to their corn in May may come weeping away," but "They that go in June may come back with a merry tune." Then there is the following familiar pretty couplet, of which there are several versions:--

"The bee doth love the sweetest flower, So doth the blossom the April shower."

In connection with beans, there is a well-known adage which says:--

"Be it weal or be it woe, Beans should blow before May go."

Of the numerous other items of plant weather-lore, it is said that "March wind wakes the ether (_i. e_., adder) and blooms the whin;" and many of our peasantry maintain that:--

"A peck of March dust and a shower in May, Makes the corn green and the fields gay."

It should also be noted that many plants are considered good barometers.

Chickweed, for instance, expands its leaves fully when fine weather is to follow; but "if it should shut up, then the traveller is to put on his greatcoat."[5] The same, too, is said to be the case with the pimpernel, convolvulus, and clover; while if the marigold does not open its petals by seven o'clock in the morning, either rain or thunder may be expected in the course of the day. According to Wilsford, "tezils, or fuller's thistle, being gathered and hanged up in the house, where the air may come freely to it, upon the alteration of cold and windy weather will grow smoother, and against rain will close up its p.r.i.c.kles." Once more, according to the "Shepherd's Calendar," "Chaff, leaves, thistle-down, or such light things whisking about and turning round foreshows tempestuous winds;" And Coles, in his introduction to the "Knowledge of Plants," informs us that, "If the down flieth off colt's-foot, dandelion, and thistles when there is no wind, it is a sign of rain."

Some plants, again, have gained a notoriety from opening or shutting their flowers at the sun's bidding; in allusion to which Perdita remarks in the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 3):--

"The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, and with him rises weeping."

It was also erroneously said, like the sun-flower, to turn its blossoms to the sun, the latter being thus described by Thomson:--

"The lofty follower of the sun, Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves, Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns, Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray."

Another plant of this kind is the endive, which is said to open its petals at eight o'clock in the morning, and to close them at four in the afternoon. Thus we are told how:--

"On upland slopes the shepherds mark The hour when, to the dial true, Cichorium to the towering lark, Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue."

And as another floral index of the time of day may be noticed the goat's-beard, opening at sunrise and closing at noon--hence one of its popular names of "Go to bed at noon." This peculiarity is described by Bishop Mant:--