12 JUNE 1947, Page 17

"Cast not a Clout . . . "

Those who obeyed the old, old maxim: "Cast not a clout till May be out," must have suffered horribly, whether "May " means the month or, as some hold, the flower. The blossom was past its best when the month ended, following the example of a host of other plants, which looked like being very late but hurried to their peak at unprecedented speed. Many things designated "May" often wait till June: the white- thorn, the May-fly and the May-weed. This spring, which promised to be one of the latest in the records, all of these flourished in their name- month. It happened that I saw the first of the dog-roses on the last day of May, though doubtless many were out days earlier. Today the garden is rather more than up-to-date.