"When gnats dance in March it brings death to sheep" (Dutch).[784]

When April blows his horn it's good both for hay and corn.

"That is," says Ray, "when it thunders in April, for thunder is usually accompanied with rain."

A cold April the barn will fill.

April and May are the keys of the year.

A May flood never did good.

This applies to England. In Spain and Italy they say, "Water in May is bread for all the year."[785]

To wed in May is to wed poverty.

There were fewer marriages in Scotland in May, 1857, than in any other month of the year: it is an "unlucky month." The proverb is recorded by Washington Irving.

A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay,

A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon,

But a swarm in July is not worth a fly.