258 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



ticated. To be weatherwise, as the old folks 

 have it, is one part of woodcraft ; the study 

 of the weather is a really earnest one, and it 

 is made to some purpose. 



"Have you done bark-stripping, Tom?" I 

 ask, as my old friend comes along with his 

 tools. 



" Well I be, fur a time ; the wind be shifted 

 dead eastward. I told my dame as we should 

 hev' a orkard change afore long, fur the black- 

 cocks shifted over to t'other hills. The bark 

 wunt run now, for the sap hev' gone down 

 agin, so I shell hev' to wait till the weather 

 gits kind agin. 'Tis a pity ; we made a good 

 start like." A change of weather such as this 

 seriously upsets flaying arrangements. 



My readers may think us a little old fash- 

 ioned in our opinions, but when I lived with 

 the seafaring folks we put more faith in their 

 weather forecasts than we did in weather 

 glasses. Very often have I met them early 

 in the morning passing through the woods 

 or over the moors, and have asked their 

 opinion about the weather ; for changes come 

 quickly at times where a long line of hills 

 is well wooded. You may watch the clouds 

 gather and sail up from open water, miles 



