356 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
and are no longer consulted as oracles or rever- 
enced as prophets. ‘‘Chickweed, for instance,’’ says 
Thistleton Dyer, ‘‘ expands its leaves fully when 
fine weather is to follow, but if they are half closed, 
then the traveller is to put on his great-coat’’; 
and, according to the ‘‘ Shepherd’s Calendar,’’ this- 
66 
tle-down or dandelion-down ‘‘ whisking about and 
turning around foreshadows tempestuous winds.’’ 
‘“ If the down flieth off dandelion and thistles when 
there is no wind,’’ says another old collection of 
flower-lore, ‘‘ it is a sign of rain.”’ 
The sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) (Fig. 97), 
though it is an immigrant from the Old World, 
is already common enough in some sections of the 
country to fall under the ban of the farmer. 
In rural England one of its popular names is 
‘“ hare’s-palace,’’ because, according to the ‘‘ Grete 
Herbale,’’ ‘‘ if the hare come under it he is sure 
that no beast can touch him.”’ 
In Italy at Christmas-tide mangers are decorated 
in honor of the Christ-Child with mosses, branches 
of cypress and holly, and the yellow flowers of the 
sow-thistle. Why this dooryard-weed appears in 
such an honorable situation we cannot tell. Per- 
haps for the very practical reason that it is one of 
the few flowers to be found blooming out of doors 
