21 MAY 1948, Page 16

Weather Prognostics

Local weather prognostics begin to lose their potency. Even the engrooved prophet has been heard to announce: "The six o'clock do say —." A sad affair, but faith in omens has not wholly vanished. The high elevation of rooks' nests cheers most local optimists, and every country-dweller has noticed how abnormal is the lead of the oak over the ash. Most unfortunately " oak " rhymes with " soak " and " ash " with " splash," to the no little confusion of the doggerel prophets. I have failed to discover any general agreement on the question whether the earliness of the oak portends rain or drought.