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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
113
"A
weed
that
runs
to
seed
Is
a
seven
years'
weed."
And
the
oft-quoted
phrase,
"It
will
be
a
nosegay
to
him
as
long
as
he
lives,"
implies
that
disagreeable
actions,
instead
of
being
lost
sight
of,
only
too
frequently
cling
to
a
man
in
after
years,
or,
as
Ray
says,
"stink
in
his
nostrils."
The
man
who
abandons
some
good
enterprise
for
a
worthless,
or
insignificant,
undertaking
is
said
to
"cut
down
an
oak
and
plant
a
thistle,"
of
which
there
is
a
further
version,
"to
cut
down
an
oak
and
set
up
a
strawberry."
The
truth
of
the
next
adage
needs
no
comment--"Usurers
live
by
the
fall
of
heirs,
as
swine
by
the
droppings
of
acorns."
Things
that
are
slow
but
sure
in
their
progress
are
the
subject
of
a
well-known
Gloucestershire
saying:--
"It
is
as
long
in
coming
as
Cotswold
barley."
"The
corn
in
this
cold
country,"
writes
Ray,
"exposed
to
the
winds,
bleak
and
shelterless,
is
very
backward
at
the
first,
but
afterwards
overtakes
the
forwardest
in
the
country,
if
not
in
the
barn,
in
the
bushel,
both
for
the
quantity
and
goodness
thereof."
According
to
the
Italians,
"Every
grain
hath
its
bran,"
which
corresponds
with
our
saying,
"Every
bean
hath
its
black,"
The
meaning
being
that
nothing
is
without
certain
imperfections.
A
person
in
extreme
poverty
is
often
described
as
being
"as
bare
as
the
birch
at
Yule
Even,"
and
an
ill-natured
or
evil-disposed
person
who
tries
to
do
harm,
but
cannot,
is
commonly
said
to:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
