Notes and Queries (1st Series v. 71):--

"If the oak's before the ash, then you'll only get a splash,
If the ash precedes the oak, then you may expect a soak."

From the "Shepherd's Calendar" we learn that, "If in the fall of the
leaf in October many leaves wither on the boughs and hang there, it
betokens a frosty winter and much snow," with which may be compared a
Devonshire saying:--

"If good apples you would have
The leaves must go into the grave."

Or, in other words, "you must plant your trees in the fall of the leaf."
And again, "Apples, pears, hawthorn-quick, oak; set them at
All-hallow-tide and command them to prosper; set them at Candlemas and
entreat them to grow."

In Germany,[4] too, there is a rhyme which may be thus translated:--

"When the hawthorn bloom too early shows,
We shall have still many snows."

In the same way the fruit of trees and plants was regarded as a
prognostication of the ensuing weather, and Wilsford tells us that
"great store of walnuts and almonds presage a plentiful year of corn,
especially filberts." The notion that an abundance of haws betokens a
hard winter is still much credited, and has given rise to the familiar
Scotch proverb:--

"Mony haws,
Mony snaws."

Another variation of the same adage in Kent is, "A plum year, a dumb
year," and, "Many nits, many pits," implying that the abundance of nuts
in the autumn indicates the "pits" or graves of those who shall succumb
to the hard and inclement weather of winter; but, on the other hand, "A
cherry year, a merry year." A further piece of weather-lore tells us:--

"Many rains, many rowans;
Many rowans, many yawns,"

The meaning being that an abundance of rowans--the fruit of the
mountain-ash--denote a deficient harvest.

Among further sayings of this kind may be noticed one relating to the
onion, which is thus:--

"Onion's skin very thin,
Mild-winter's coming in;
Onion's skin thick and tough,
Coming winter cold and rough."

Again, many of our peasantry have long been accustomed to arrange their
farming pursuits from the indications given them by sundry trees and
plants. Thus it is said--

"When the sloe tree is as white as a sheet,
Sow your barley whether it be dry or wet."

With which may be compared another piece of weather-lore:--

"When the oak puts on his gosling grey,
'Tis time to sow barley night or day."

The leafing of the elm has from time immemorial been made to