"
Again, boisterous wet weather during the month of July is to be
deprecated, for, as the old adage runs:--
"No tempest, good July,
Lest the corn look surly."
Flowers of this kind are very numerous, and under a variety of forms
prevail largely in our own and other countries, an interesting
collection of which have been collected by Mr. Swainson in his
interesting little volume on "Weather Folk-lore," in which he has given
the parallels in foreign countries. It must be remembered, however, that
a great number of these plant-sayings originated very many years
ago--long before the alteration in the style of the calendar--which in
numerous instances will account for their apparent contradictory
character. In noticing, too, these proverbs, account must be taken of
the variation of climate in different countries, for what applies to one
locality does not to another. Thus, for instance, according to a Basque
proverb, "A wet May, a fruitful year," whereas it is said in Corsica,
"A rainy May brings little barley and no wheat." Instances of this kind
are of frequent occurrence, and of course are in many cases explained by
the difference of climate. But in comparing all branches of folk-lore,
similar variations, as we have already observed, are noticeable, to
account for which is often a task full of difficulty.
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