Chapter XXIV

SPRING and SUMMER. _If the last eighteen Days of_ February _and
ten Days of_ March _be for the most part_
rainy, _then the_ Spring and Summer _Quarters
are like to be so too: and I never knew_ a great
Drought _but it entered_ in that Season.

IT is easy to discover by Observation whether this Rule be well or ill founded, that is to say, whether our Shepherd's Observation will serve for other Places or not, and where it will serve and where not. But it may not be amiss to remark that it is highly probable, or rather absolutely certain, that the Weather in one Season of the Year determines the Weather in another. For instance, if there be a rainy Winter then the Autumn will be dry, if a dry Spring, then a rainy Winter. Our Forefathers had abundance of odd Sayings upon this Subject, and some Proverbs for every Month in the Year, but I doubt they were indifferently founded, however there can be no Harm in observing them, in order to discover whether there be any thing in them or not.

_Janiveer_ freeze the Pot by the Fire

If the Grass grow in _Janiveer_
It grows the worse for't all the Year.
The _Welchman_ had rather see his Dam on the Bier
Than to see a fair _Februeer_.
_March_ Wind and _May_ Sun
Make Clothes white and Maids Dun.
When _April_ blows his Horn
It's good both for Hay and Corn.
An _April_ Flood
Carries away the Frog and her Brood.
A cold _May_ and a windy
Makes a full Barn and a Findy.
A _May_ Flood never did good.
A Swarm of Bees in _May_
Is worth a Load of Hay.
But a Swarm in _July_
Is not worth a Fly, _&c._