The summer of scorched hydrangeas.
I'm still savoring The WPA Guide to 1930's Alabama. Here's an excerpt from the chapter on folklore and folkways pertaining to folk wisdom on fishing and farming:
The lore-wise farmer knows one must not plant "eye crops"- potatoes, sugar cane, Jerusalem artichokes, and sweet potatoes- at night because then the eyes will not be able to find their way to the surface. Cotton and grains should be planted during the light of the moon, while root crops do best when planted in the dark of the moon. For bulk and plenty of leafy growth, crops are planted on the growing of the moon, while for keeping qualities and weevil resistance, corn, peas, beans, and sweet potatoes should be seeded during the waning of the moon. Meat cures and keeps best when hogs are killed on a decreasing moon, but it is better to kill them on the growing moon for fresh pork sales, as the meat will weigh more. By the same principle, firewood should always be cut in the shrinking (waning) of the moon so it will dry out thoroughly and burn well. Good Friday is the time to plant all tender (frost-susceptible) garden crops.
After planting time, the farmer gets out his Ladies' Birthday Alamanac to see whether the signs are right for fishing. On days indicated in the almanac as dominated by Pisces, the fish will bite well- if there are no other conflicting signs. He holds his temper against annoyances because "if you get mad, the fish won't bite" but if it is thundering they will not bite anyway. He also keeps in mind the old verse:
Wind in the north blows the bait off;
Wind from the east makes the fish least;
Wind in the south puts the bait in his mouth;
Wind in the west, fish bite the best.
With all of these in his favor, the farmer fisherman sticks a wad of plug tobacco in his jaw and begins fishing, after flavoring his bait with a sauce of tobacco juice.
