342 



There are several versions of tliis 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, 

 Tlien you'll only get a splash ; 

 If the Ash precedes the Oak, 

 Then you may expect a soak. 



The Folk-lore of Plants, Thistleton Dyer, p. 117. 



Tvro versions of these rhymes are to be met vvfith, whose prophecies are 

 diametrically opposed, it is enough for me at present to take them as a proof tliat 

 common observation asserts that the leafing of these two trees varies in different 

 seasons, sometimes one and sometimes the other acquiring its foliage in sjiring 

 earlier than its fellow. 



This year it has been a matter of frequent remark that the oak is notably in 

 advance of the ash. 



I have very little to say except to record this circumstance, and to inquire 

 what is known about the matter. 



I may first give a few dates which are very approximate for two reasons, 

 firstly, that it is difficult to say precisely what advance in growth may be decided 

 to be " in leaf ;" and secondly, trees of the same species may differ from each other 

 by a week or more in their forwardness. 



About the 6th of May, when an oak leaf about an inch long could be readily 

 found, the season for oaks was about 18 days behind an ordinary season. So 

 rapid has been the progress since that date, that at present. May 23rd, trees that 

 submit to forcing are at about a stage normal to the season. 



On May 17th oaks were generally well in leaf ; that is there were shoots of 

 several inches long and leaves fairly developed. At this date many ash trees 

 showed nothing like a leaf, and the most forward were only at about the stage 

 reached by oaks on May Gth, and even yesterday, May 22nd, I saw an ash tree 

 with buds only just breaking, whilst most oak trees now have full sized leaves. 



But there is another circumstance that is very curious, though few, I think, 

 have noticed it, and that is that when ash and oak have been cropped in hedges, 

 the reverse state of matters holds. Well developed ash leaves could be found in 

 hedges on April 29th, and on May 5th all such specimens were fairly in leaf. Yet 

 on May 17th many oaks clipped in hedges had buds swelled to an inch or two in 

 length, yet without anything like a leaf. 



I think these dates are well to be noted ; the only comment I would make 

 on them wonld be in the form of a few questions. 



Firstly, and most radically, does the ash ever leaf before the oak ? The ash 

 always blossoms a week or two, more often four or five weeks, before it breaks into 

 leaf. For the last few years the ash has blossomed very freely, and many trees 

 thereby put on a clothed, not exactly leafy, appearance, very early. This year the 

 ash has hardly bloomed at all, and the first movement seen has been the bursting 

 of the leaf bud. My inquiry is, therefore, whether the supposed variation in the 

 date relative to the oak, at which the ash bursts into leaf, is not in reality 

 merely a variation in the amount of blossom it bears. 



