On the other hand, the blossoming of plants at certain times is said to be an indication of the coming weather, and so when the bramble blooms early in June an early harvest may be expected; and in the northern counties the peasant judges of the advance of the year by the appearance of the daisy, affirming that “spring has not arrived till you can set your foot on twelve daisies.”  We are also told that when many hawthorn blossoms are seen a severe winter will follow; and, according to Wilsford, “the broom having plenty of blossoms is a sign of a fruitful year of corn.”  A Surrey proverb tells us that “It’s always cold when the blackthorn comes into flower;” and there is the rhyme which reminds us that:—­

  “If the oak is out before the ash,
  ’Twill be a summer of wet and splash;
  But if the ash is before the oak,
  ’Twill be a summer of fire and smoke.”

There are several versions of this piece of weather-lore, an old Kentish one being “Oak, smoke; ash, quash;” and according to a version given in Notes and Queries (1st Series v. 71):—­

 “If the oak’s before the ash, then you’ll only get a splash,
 If the ash precedes the oak, then you may expect a soak.”

From the “Shepherd’s Calendar” we learn that, “If in the fall of the leaf in October many leaves wither on the boughs and hang there, it betokens a frosty winter and much snow,” with which may be compared a Devonshire saying:—­

  “If good apples you would have
  The leaves must go into the grave.”

Or, in other words, “you must plant your trees in the fall of the leaf.”  And again, “Apples, pears, hawthorn-quick, oak; set them at All-hallow-tide and command them to prosper; set them at Candlemas and entreat them to grow.”

In Germany,[4] too, there is a rhyme which may be thus translated:—­

  “When the hawthorn bloom too early shows,
  We shall have still many snows.”

In the same way the fruit of trees and plants was regarded as a prognostication of the ensuing weather, and Wilsford tells us that “great store of walnuts and almonds presage a plentiful year of corn, especially filberts.”  The notion that an abundance of haws betokens a hard winter is still much credited, and has given rise to the familiar Scotch proverb:—­

  “Mony haws,
  Mony snaws.”

Another variation of the same adage in Kent is, “A plum year, a dumb year,” and, “Many nits, many pits,” implying that the abundance of nuts in the autumn indicates the “pits” or graves of those who shall succumb to the hard and inclement weather of winter; but, on the other hand, “A cherry year, a merry year.”  A further piece of weather-lore tells us:—­

  “Many rains, many rowans;
  Many rowans, many yawns,”

The meaning being that an abundance of rowans—­the fruit of the mountain-ash—­denote a deficient harvest.

Among further sayings of this kind may be noticed one relating to the onion, which is thus:—­