120 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



of the belief which still prevails that an autumn rich in 

 berries foretells a hard winter, it is hardly necessary to point 

 out that there is no such connection. The abundance of 

 every kind of berry depends on the weather in the previous 

 spring, when the blossom was fertilised, and the young fruit 

 was setting ; and there is no meteorological rule by which 

 mild weather in April or May is followed by a rigorous 

 winter. The idea that provision is made in this way for the 



f^ 



SLOEBERRIES 



birds in a hard season ignores the fact that migratory birds 

 in winter are not tied to any one district or country, but 

 range over wide territories in search of food. It is not 

 necessary to look far back to find a striking contradiction of 

 the theory ; for the autumn of 1911 was one of the richest in 

 all kinds of fruits and berries ever known, and the following 

 winter one of the mildest. Nor is this a solitary exception ; 

 there is not even a superficial appearance of truth about the 

 idea. Subject to favourable weather at the critical moment 

 of blossoming, a luxuriant crop of wild berries is most likely 

 to follow a very poor one. The trees seem to store up 

 energy in a season in which they ripen little fruit ; and 



