June has now come, bending beneath her weight of roses, to ornament the halls and bowers which summer has hung with green. For this is the month of roses, and their beauty and fragrance conjure up again many in poetical creation which memory had buried . . .
This is the season to wander into the fields and woods, with a volume of sterling poetry for companionship, and compare the descriptive passages with the objects that lie around. We never enjoy reading portions of Spenser’s Fairy Queen so much as when among the great green trees in summer.
1st June is generally regarded as the first day of summer.
June probably takes its name from the Roman goddess Juno. The Saxons called it ‘dry month’. In Welsh it is ‘Mehefin’, in Irish-Gaelic ‘Meitheamh’, and in Scottish it is ‘Meadhan-Sambraidh’.
June water is said to cure eye ailments.
Here are some popular rhymes and sayings for the month.
‘If on the eighth of June it rain,
It foretells a wet harvest, men sain.’
Sets all in tune.
Married in the month of roses – June
Life will be one long honeymoon.
‘Calm weather in June
Sets the corn in tune.’
The day will be warm.
A sunshiny shower
Won’t last half an hour.
‘Rain from the east
Will last three days at least.’
Doth the farmer no harm.
The moon and the weather
Cbange together.
‘Moon on it’s back
Holds water in its lap.’
It will be everlasting.
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon.
‘Spud a thistle in June,
It will come again soon.’