In article , Jaques d'Alltrades
writes
The message
from Malcolm contains these words:

This sounds doubtful if subjected to logical analysis anyway - my 2p theory
is that more berries means a good summer, and good summers (lots of high
pressure and clear skies) are often followed by hard winters (lots of high
pressure and clear skies).

Lots of berries at the end of a summer means that in the previous
summer/autumn, the plant was able to lay down good reserves of energy
with which to produce masses of flowers and then fruit the following
year.

Much more likely that late frosts in the spring didn't kill a lot of the
blooms or retard activity of pollinating insects.

But they are just secondary factors. The plant has to have been able to
produce the blooms in the first place, i.e. from its reserves of energy,
before there is anything for frosts or insects to affect.

In the UK at least, there is no correlation between good summers and
succeeding, or preceding, hard winters. Indeed, we don't seem to get
hard winters any more!

You will always find a correlation of some sort if you look hard enough.

Not ones that are necessarily meaningful.

--
Malcolm