140 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 



ignored — caused by the introduction of the New 

 Style. He says : — 



" In Dorsetshire people anxiously look for the 

 dew-drops hanging thickly on the thorn-bushes on 

 Candlemas morning. When they do, it forebodes 

 a good year for peas. But these weatherwise seers 

 are apt to forget that all these old saws were adapted 

 to the Old Style, according to which what used to be 

 Candlemas is now St. Valentine. N'importe, the 

 weather prophet coolly moves on his peg and goes 

 on predicting with equal confidence."' 

 The following forecasts as to the kind of weather to be 



expected are based upon what has alread}^ obtained in 



particular months of the year — 



January — 



(i.) "A January Spring 



Isn't worth a pin " (or, in West Dorset, '" is 

 good for no-thing.") 



Mr. Norris renders this latter version in the 

 vernacular as follows : — " A January spring edd'n 

 good vur noo-thing ; " because crops then become 

 too forward, — " winter proud," as it is called, — and 

 are liable to be damaged by later cold weather, 

 (ii.) Another version has : 



" January Spring, 

 February wring." 



(iii.) And a West Dorset variant of this last runs : 



" A January Spring 

 Makes a February ring " {i.e. a ringing frost 

 — the reverberation on the hard, frosty 

 surface). 



February — 



(i.) If a mild January was considered unseasonable 

 and undesirable, similar weather during the follow- 

 ing month of February seemed even less to the 



