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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
109
"Dandelion,
with
globe
of
down,
The
schoolboy's
clock
in
every
town,
Which
the
truant
puffs
amain
To
conjure
lost
hours
back
again."
Among
other
flowers
possessing
a
similar
feature
may
be
noticed
the
wild
succory,
creeping
mallow,
purple
sandwort,
small
bindweed,
common
nipplewort,
and
smooth
sow-thistle.
Then
of
course
there
is
the
pimpernel,
known
as
the
shepherd's
clock
and
poor
man's
weather-glass;
while
the
small
purslane
and
the
common
garden
lettuce
are
also
included
in
the
flower-clock.[6]
Among
further
items
of
weather-lore
associated
with
May,
we
are
told
how
he
that
"sows
oats
in
May
gets
little
that
way,"
and
"He
who
mows
in
May
will
have
neither
fruit
nor
hay."
Calm
weather
in
June
"sets
corn
in
tune;"
and
a
Suffolk
adage
says:--
"Cut
your
thistles
before
St.
John,
You
will
have
two
instead
of
one."
But
"Midsummer
rain
spoils
hay
and
grain,"
whereas
it
is
commonly
said
that,
"A
leafy
May,
and
a
warm
June,
Bring
on
the
harvest
very
soon."
Again,
boisterous
wet
weather
during
the
month
of
July
is
to
be
deprecated,
for,
as
the
old
adage
runs:--
"No
tempest,
good
July,
Lest
the
corn
look
surly."
Flowers
of
this
kind
are
very
numerous,
and
under
a
variety
of
forms
prevail
largely
in
our
own
and
other
countries,
an
interesting
collection
of
which
have
been
collected
by
Mr.
Swainson
in
his
interesting
little
volume
on
"Weather
Folk-lore,"
in
which
he
has
given
the
parallels
in
foreign
countries.
It
must
be
remembered,
however,
that
a
great
number
of
these
plant-sayings
originated
very
many
years
ago--long
before
the
alteration
in
the
style
of
the
calendar--which
in
numerous
instances
will
account
for
their
apparent
contradictory
character.
In
noticing,
too,
these
proverbs,
account
must
be
taken
of
the
variation
of
climate
in
different
countries,
for
what
applies
to
one
locality
does
not
to
another.
Thus,
for
instance,
according
to
a
Basque
proverb,
"A
wet
May,
a
fruitful
year,"
whereas
it
is
said
in
Corsica,
"A
rainy
May
brings
little
barley
and
no
wheat."
Instances
of
this
kind
are
of
frequent
occurrence,
and
of
course
are
in
many
cases
explained
by
the
difference
of
climate.
But
in
comparing
all
branches
of
folk-lore,
similar
variations,
as
we
have
already
observed,
are
noticeable,
to
account
for
which
is
often
a
task
full
of
difficulty.
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