The Folk-lore of Plants

In Herefordshire there is a popular rhyme associated with the aul (Alnus glutinosus):-- "When the bud of the aul is as big as the trout's eye, Then that fish is in season in the river Wye." A Yorkshire name for the quaking grass (Briza media) is "trembling jockies," and according to a local proverb:-- "A trimmling jock i' t' house, An' you weeant hev a mouse," This plant being, it is said, obnoxious to mice. According to a Warwickshire proverb:-- "Plant your sage and rue together, The sage will grow in any weather." This list of plant proverbs might easily be extended, but the illustrations quoted in the preceding pages are a fair sample of this portion of our subject. Whereas many are based on truth, others are more or less meaningless. At any rate, they still thrive to a large extent among our rural community, by whom they are regarded as so many household sayings. Footnotes: 1. See Akerman's "Wiltshire Glossary," p. 18. 2. "English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," pp. 327-8. 3. "Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," p. 207.