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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
106
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
hoar-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
grass
on
the
top
of
the
oak
tree,"
the
meaning
being,
says
Ray,
that
"the
grass
seldom
springs
well
before
the
oak
begins
to
put
forth."
In
the
Western
Counties
it
is
asserted
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."
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