The Folk-lore of Plants

"Even ash, I do thee pluck, Hoping thus to meet good luck; If no good luck I get from thee, I shall wish thee on the tree." And there is the following well-known couplet:-- "With a four-leaved clover, a double-leaved ash, and a green-topped leave, You may go before the queen's daughter without asking leave." But, on the other hand, the finder of the five-leaved clover, it is said, will have bad luck. In Scotland [3] it was formerly customary to carry on the person a piece of torch-fir for good luck--a superstition which, Mr. Conway remarks, is found in the gold-mines of California, where the men tip a cone with the first gold they discover, and keep it as a charm to ensure good luck in future. Nuts, again, have generally been credited with propitious qualities, and have accordingly been extensively used for divination. In some mysterious way, too, they are supposed to influence the population, for when plentiful, there is said to be a corresponding increase of babies. In Russia the peasantry frequently carry a nut in their purses, from a belief that it will act as a charm in their efforts to make money. Sternberg, in his "Northamptonshire Glossary" (163), says that the discovery of a double nut, "presages well for the finder, and unless he mars his good fortune by swallowing both kernels, is considered an infallible sign of approaching 'luck.' The orthodox way in such cases consists in eating one, and throwing the other over the shoulder."