The Folk-lore of Plants Part 15

Which reminds us of the proverbial saying:--

"Like a camomile bed, The more it is trodden The more it will spread."

The common expression:--

"Worth a plum,"

Is generally said of a man who is accredited with large means, and another adage tells us that,

"The higher the plum-tree, the riper the plum."

To live in luxury and affluence is expressed by the proverbial phrase "To live in clover," with which may be compared the saying "Do it up in lavender," applied to anything which is valuable and precious. A further similar phrase is "Laid up in lavender," in allusion to the old-fashioned custom of scenting newly-washed linen with this fragrant plant. Thus Shenstone says:--

"Lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom Shall be, erewhile, in arid bundles bound,

To lurk amidst the labours of her loom, And crown her kerchiefs clean with micklc rare perfume."

According to Gerarde, the Spartans were in the habit of eating cress with their bread, from a popular notion very generally held among the ancients, that those who ate it became noted for their wit and decision of character. Hence the old proverb:--

"Eat cress to learn more wit."

Of fruit proverbs we are told that,

"If you would enjoy the fruit, pluck not the flower."

And again:--

"When all fruit fails, welcome haws."

And "If you would have fruit, you must carry the leaf to the grave;"

which Ray explains, "You must transplant your trees just about the fall of the leaf," and then there is the much-quoted rhyme:--

"Fruit out of season, Sorrow out of reason."

Respecting the vine, it is said:--

"Make the vine poor, and it will make you rich,"

That is, prune off its branches; and another adage is to this effect: "Short boughs, long vintage." The constant blooming of the gorse has given rise to a popular Northamptonshire proverb:--

"When gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season."

The health-giving properties of various plants have long been in the highest repute, and have given rise to numerous well-known proverbs, which are still heard in many a home. Thus old Gerarde, describing the virtues of the mallow, tells us:--

"If that of health you have any special care, Use French mallows, that to the body wholesome are."

Then there is the time-honoured adage which says that:--

"He that would live for aye Must eat sage in May."

And Aubrey has bequeathed us the following piece of advice:--

"Eat leeks in Lide, and ramsines in May, And all the year after physicians may play."

There are many sayings of this kind still current among our country-folk, some of which no doubt contain good advice; and of the plaintain, which from time immemorial has been used as a vulnerary, it is said:--

"Plantain ribbed, that heals the reaper's wounds."

In Herefordshire there is a popular rhyme a.s.sociated with the aul (_Alnus glutinosus_):--

"When the bud of the aul is as big as the trout's eye, Then that fish is in season in the river Wye."

A Yorkshire name for the quaking gra.s.s (_Briza media_) is "trembling jockies," and according to a local proverb:--

"A trimmling jock i' t' house, An' you weeant hev a mouse,"

This plant being, it is said, obnoxious to mice. According to a Warwickshire proverb:--

"Plant your sage and rue together, The sage will grow in any weather."

This list of plant proverbs might easily be extended, but the ill.u.s.trations quoted in the preceding pages are a fair sample of this portion of our subject. Whereas many are based on truth, others are more or less meaningless. At any rate, they still thrive to a large extent among our rural community, by whom they are regarded as so many household sayings.

Footnotes:

1. See Akerman's "Wiltshire Glossary," p. 18.

2. "English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," pp. 327-8.

3. "Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," p. 207.

CHAPTER XII.

PLANTS AND THEIR CEREMONIAL USE.

In the earliest period of primitive society flowers seem to have been largely used for ceremonial purposes. Tracing their history downwards up to the present day, we find how extensively, throughout the world, they have entered into sacred and other rites. This is not surprising when we remember how universal have been the love and admiration for these choice and lovely productions of nature's handiwork. From being used as offerings in the old heathen worship they acquired an additional veneration, and became a.s.sociated with customs which had important significance. Hence the great quant.i.ty of flowers required, for ceremonial purposes of various kinds, no doubt promoted and encouraged a taste for horticulture even among uncultured tribes. Thus the Mexicans had their famous floating gardens, and in the numerous records handed down of social life, as it existed in different countries, there is no lack of references to the habits and peculiarities of the vegetable world.

Again, from all parts of the world, the histories of bygone centuries have contributed their accounts of the rich a.s.sortment of flowers in demand for the worship of the G.o.ds, which are valuable as indicating how elaborate and extensive was the knowledge of plants in primitive periods, and how magnificent must have been the display of these beautiful and brilliant offerings. Amongst some tribes, too, so sacred were the flowers used in religious rites held, that it was forbidden so much as to smell them, much less to handle them, except by those whose privileged duty it was to arrange them for the altar. Coming down to the historic days of Greece and Rome, we have abundant details of the skill and care that were displayed in procuring for religious purposes the finest and choicest varieties of flowers; abundant allusions to which are found in the old cla.s.sic writings.

The profuseness with which flowers were used in Rome during triumphal processions has long ago become proverbial, in allusion to which Macaulay says:--

"On they ride to the Forum, While laurel boughs, and flowers, From house-tops and from windows, Fell on their crests in showers."