Devon / Westcountry weather as fortold by plants

White Clover in Devon - if you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog.

"Expect rain if the stalks of clover stand upright ; if the flower of the convolvulus closes ; if the flowers of the sorrel and of the African marigold close ; if the flower of the pitcher-plant turns upside down ; if the flower of the cinquefoil expands.

 Fine weather is preceded by the opening of the flowers of the sorrel or the closing of the cinquefoil, and the standing erect of the flower of the pitcherplant.

A foot deep of rain
Will kill hay again ;
But three feet of snow
Will make it come mo'.

When hemp is ripe and ready to pull,
Then Englishman, beware of thy skull."

Hewett 1900

Ash and Clover charms in Devon

Four-leaved Clover - Some rights reserved by SuperFantastic

 

"AN even leaved ash and a four leaved clover
Are certain to bring to me my true love
Before the day is over.

An even leaved ash and a four leaved clover are beneficent attractors of the opposite sex, for if one finds an even leaved ash and holds it flat between both hands, and repeats softly,

" With this even leaved ash between my hands
The first I meet will be my dear man."

then placing it in the palm of the gloved right hand, say,

 

" This placed in my glove
Will bring my own true love."

then remove it to the bosom and whisper,

" This even leaved ash in my bosom
Will give me, in the first man I meet
My true husband.""

Hewett 1900

A normal odd-leaved Ash leaf - I have found even leaved ones in the past, but only rarely - By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The four leaved Clover - part 2

'...One midsummer's day in the evening, the maid was later than usual milking, as she had been down to Penberth to the games. The stars were beginning to blink when she finished her task. Daisey was the last cow milked, and the bucket was so full she could scarcely lift it to her head. Before rising from the milking-stool, the maid plucked up a handful of grass and clover to put in the head of her hat, that she might carry the bucket the steadier. She had no sooner placed the hat on her head, than she saw hundreds and thousands of Small People. swarming in all directions about the cow, and dipping their hands into the milk, taking it out on the clover blossoms and sucking them. The grass and clover, all in blossom, reached to the cow's belly. Hundreds of the little creatures ran up the long grass and clover stems, with buttercups, lady's smocks, convolvuluses, and foxglove flowers, to catch the milk that Daisey let flow from her four teats, like a shower, among them. Right under the cow's udder the maid saw one much larger than the others lying on his back, with his heels cocked up to the cow's belly. She knew he must be a Piskie, because he was laughing, with his mouth open from ear to ear. The little ones were running up and down his legs, filling their cups, and emptying them into the Piskie's mouth. Hundreds of others were on Daisey's back, scratching her rump, and tickling her round the horns and behind the ears. Others were smoothing down every hair of her shining coat into its place...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903

The Four Leaved Clover - part 1

'NOT many years since a farmer lived in Bosfrancan in St Burrien, who had a very fine red-and-white cow called Daisey. The cow was always fat, with her dewlaps and udder sweeping the grass. Daisey held her milk from calf to calf; had an udder like a bucket, yet she would never yield more than a gallon or so of milk, when one might plainly see that she had still at least two gallons more in her udder. All at once, when the milk was in full flow, she would give a gentle bleat, cock up her ears, and the milk would stop at once. If the milkmaid tried to get any more from her after that, she would up foot, kick the bucket, and spill all the milk, yet stand as still as a stock, and keep chewing her cud all the time. Everybody would have thought the cow bewitched, if she hadn't been always fat and held her milk all the year round; besides, everything prospered with the farmer, and all the other cows had more milk than any of the neighbours. No one could tell what the deuce could be the matter with Daisey; and they tried to drive her to Burrien Church-town fair, that they might, be rid of her, as she was always fit for the butchers. All the men and boys on the farm couldn't get her to Church-town. As fast as they drove her up Alsie Lane, she would take down Cotneywilley, through by the Crean, down the Bottoms, and up the Gilley, and be in the field again before the men and boys would be half way home..' [cont.]

Hunt 1903