April was the first month of the ancient Alban calendar and the second of the early Roman calendar.
April’s name comes from aperire, Latin for “to open”, a reference to the trees unfolding and the earth opening to produce new spring life.
April presents no prettier picture than that of green fields, with rustic stiles between the openings of the hedges, where old footpaths go in and out, winding along, until lost in the distance; with children scattered here and there, singly or in groups, just as the daisies are, all playing or gathering flowers . . . All day long the bees are busy among the bloom, making an unceasing murmur, for April is beautiful to look upon; and if she hides her sweet face for a few hours behind the rain-clouds, it is only that she may appear again peeping out through the next burst of sunshine in a veil of fresh green, through which we see the red and white of her bloom.
Then beer will smell like an open drain”
If the first three days of April be foggy
Rain in June will make the lanes boggy
“Never trust an April sunshine”
“Fogs in April bring a poor wheat crop”
“Married beneath April’s changing skies,
A chequered path before you lies.”
“If it thunder on All Fools’ Day
It brings good crops of grass and hay”
‘Tis good for hay and corn”
“A cold April and a full barn”
“April showers bring forth May flowers”
Than a May clot”
“When you hear the cuckoo shout
‘Tis time to plant your tates out!”
“When the cuckoo sings on an empty bough
Keep your hay and sell your cow.”