“Onion’s skin very thin,
  Mild-winter’s coming in;
  Onion’s skin thick and tough,
  Coming winter cold and rough.”

Again, many of our peasantry have long been accustomed to arrange their farming pursuits from the indications given them by sundry trees and plants.  Thus it is said—­

  “When the sloe tree is as white as a sheet,
  Sow your barley whether it be dry or wet.”

With which may be compared another piece of weather-lore:—­

  “When the oak puts on his gosling grey,
  ’Tis time to sow barley night or day.”

The leafing of the elm has from time immemorial been made to regulate agricultural operations, and hence the old rule:—­

  “When the elmen leaf is as big as a mouse’s ear,
  Then to sow barley never fear. 
  When the elmen leaf is as big as an ox’s eye,
  Then say I, ‘Hie, boys, hie!’”

A Warwickshire variation is:—­

  “When elm leaves are big as a shilling,
  Plant kidney beans, if to plant ’em you’re willing. 
  When elm leaves are as big as a penny,
  You must plant kidney beans if you mean to have any.”

But if the grass grow in January, the husbandman is recommended to “lock his grain in the granary,” while a further proverb informs us that:—­

  “On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang a drop,
  You are sure of a good pea crop.”

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.”