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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
66
Folkard
rightly
suggests,[6]
may
account
for
a
Surrey
saying,
"O'er
much
lettuce
in
the
garden
will
stop
a
young
wife's
bearing."
Among
similar
legends
of
the
kind
it
is
said
that,
in
Swabia,
fern-seed
brought
by
the
devil
between
eleven
and
twelve
o'clock
on
Christmas
night
enables
the
bearer
to
do
as
much
work
as
twenty
or
thirty
ordinary
men.
According
to
a
popular
piece
of
superstition
current
in
our
southern
counties,
the
devil
is
generally
supposed
to
put
his
cloven
foot
upon
the
blackberries
on
Michaelmas
Day,
and
hence
after
this
date
it
is
considered
unlucky
to
gather
them
during
the
remainder
of
the
year.
An
interesting
instance
of
this
superstition
is
given
by
Mrs.
Latham
in
her
"West
Sussex
Superstitions,"
which
happened
to
a
farmer's
wife
residing
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Arundel.
It
appears
that
she
was
in
the
habit
of
making
a
large
quantity
of
blackberry
jam,
and
finding
that
less
fruit
had
been
brought
to
her
than
she
required,
she
said
to
the
charwoman,
"I
wish
you
would
send
some
of
your
children
to
gather
me
three
or
four
pints
more."
"Ma'am,"
exclaimed
the
woman
in
astonishment,
"don't
you
know
this
is
the
11th
October?"
"Yes,"
she
replied.
"Bless
me,
ma'am!
And
you
ask
me
to
let
my
children
go
out
blackberrying!
Why,
I
thought
every
one
knew
that
the
devil
went
round
on
the
10th
October,
and
spat
on
all
the
blackberries,
and
that
if
any
person
were
to
eat
on
the
11th,
he
or
some
one
belonging
to
him
would
either
die
or
fall
into
great
trouble
before
the
year
was
out."
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