58 On Wiltshire Weather Proverbs and Weather Fallacies. 



Again : — 



" When the oak puts on his gosling grey 5 

 'Tis time to sow barley night or day." 



And 



" You may sheer your sheep, 

 When the elder blossoms peep." 



" On the Feast of St. Barnabas, 

 Put the scythe to the grass." 



" At St. Matthee, 

 Shut up the bee." 



<{ Sow wheat in dirt, and rye in dust," 



" Sow beans in the mud, 

 And they'll grow like a wood." 



" On St. Luke's day 

 The oxen may play." 



" On the first of November if the weather holds clear, 

 An end of wheat sowing do make for the year." 



There is also the well-known proverb, addressed to the slovenly 

 farmer and gardener : — 



" One year's seeding 



Is seven years' weeding." 



And now I come to speak of certain popular weather fallacies, 

 which, notwithstanding their general weather wisdom, beset our 

 Wiltshire rustics, as well as others of more advanced education, in 

 this and other counties. And the first point in this respect I would 

 mention, is the common, though wholly groundless belief, that the 

 moon has any influence on the weather. It is, in spite of all de- 

 monstration to the contrary, and without the smallest ground for 

 such, assertion, continually declared that a change of weather may be 

 looked for when the next change of the moon occurs. This may 

 perhaps be pardonable in " Moonrakers ; 33 but in the cause of truth 

 I must boldly and unhesitatingly declare that the moon has not, and 

 cannot have, the smallest effect on the weather. But as this popular 



