The Folk-lore of Plants

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."