5 1< On Wiltshire Weather Proverbs and Weather Fallacies. 



There is also another about the precedence in putting* forth their 



respective leaves on the part of the oak and the ash trees, as a 



prognostic of the heat or wetness of the ensuing summer, whose 



accuracy I cannot say I have so successfully tested, though it may 



possibly prove to be generally correct : — ■ 



" Ash before oak : there'll be a smoke; 

 Oak before ash : there'll be a splash." 



But there is another version of this proverb, which (though I 



must own it is less common in the mouths of the people) appears to 



me to be more truthful : — 



" The oak before the ash, there will only be a splash, 



But the ash before the oak, there will be a downright soak." 



,Certainly in the very unusually dry summer of this year, 1874, 

 the oak in most places came into leaf some three weeks before the 

 ash, and I have the authority of the well-known Naturalist, the 

 Rev. F. O. Morris, for saying that the same was the case, more or 

 less, in the years 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1871, though he adds that 

 any calculations which might have been based on the observations 

 then made were overturned by the data of 1872. 1 



It will doubtless be noticed that the greater part of our weather- 

 proverbs and season-saws have reference to the earlier portion of the 

 year, and centre round the spring months. The remaining months 

 of the year however are not wholly passed over ; let us go on to 

 consider some of the proverbs relating to them. 



July was often designated " plaguey July" because in that month 

 there is so much work for the farmer. Fine weather is now all- 

 important, so the proverb takes the tone of entreaty : — 

 " No tempest, good July, 

 Lest the corn look ruely." 



1 The truth of the matter really seems to be that the coming into leaf of either 

 of the trees before the other is rather the result of the kind of weather which 

 has gone by than a sign of what is to come, except indeed in so far as after a 

 very wet spring a dry summer might naturally be looked for, and vice versa. 

 For the oak tree thrives best in a dry time, just in the same way as corn requires 

 so little rain, or almost none, the best harvests being generally after the driest 

 summers. But the ash rejoices in a continuance of rainy weather in the spring, 

 and earlier comes out into leaf when the season has been wet ; for this tree, as 

 is everywhere so visible, sends its roots always along the surface of the ground, 

 while the oak strikes its roots straight down, deep into the earth. 



