Note 478 — Chapter III · SYMPATHETIC MAGIC (continued 2)
Reading edition
W. Mannhardt (Baumkultus, p. 419) promised in a later investigation to prove that it was an ancient custom at harvest or in spring to load or pelt trees and plants, as well as the representatives of the spirit of vegetation, with stones, in order thereby to express the weight of fruit which was expected. This promise, so far as I know, he did not live to fulfil. Compare, however, his Mythologische Forschungen, p. 324.