Part 5

Good gardener mine, Make garden fine, Set garden pease, And beans if ye please. Set respis and rose, Young roots of those. Who now sows oats Gets gold and groats. Who sows in May, Gets little that way.

Tusser.

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A kindly good January freezeth pot by the fire.

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O Winter! wilt thou never--never go! O Summer! but I weary for thy coming!

David Gray.

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If the robin sings in the bush, then the weather will be coarse; but if the robin sings on the barn, then the weather will be warm.

Norfolk.

FEBRUARY

Ancient Cornish name: Hu-evral, whirling month.

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Jewel: Amethyst. Sincerity.

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One month is past, another is begun, Since merry bells rang out the dying year, And buds of rarest green began to peer, As if impatient for a warmer sun; And though the distant hills are bleak and dun, The virgin snowdrop, like a lambent fire, Pierces the cold earth, with its green-streaked spire; And in dark woods the wandering little one May find a primrose.

Hartley Coleridge.

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Fair rising from her icy couch, Wan herald of the floral year, The snowdrop marks the spring's approach, Ere yet the primrose groups appear, Or peers the arum from its spotted veil, Or violets scent the cold capricious gale.

Charlotte Smith.

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Candlemas shined, and the winter's behind.

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If Candlemas Day be fair and bright The winter will take another flight; But if it should be dark and drear Then winter is gone for another year.

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When on the Purification sun hath shined, The greater part of winter comes behind.

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The badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and if he finds snows, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining, he draws back into his hole.