See Gu Xiu on June 6th What does Gu Xiu mean here?

"On June 6th, watching the valley show" here refers to watching crops heading and blooming on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month.

"Don't come out in summer, cut the grain and feed it to the old cow." If the millet doesn't come out in summer, there is no hope of harvest. Just like useless weeds, they can only be cut and fed to old cows.

Summer is the14th solar term among the traditional 24 solar terms in China. At this time, the sun reaches the longitude 150 on August 23rd of Gregorian calendar. What's special about this solar term is that it is a solar term that means from hot to cold.

Obviously, on the "summer" day, the summer heat gradually subsided, so some areas simply called it "summer heat".

Extended data

It is also clear that autumn in the agricultural proverb "Feed the old cow in autumn" does not mean "beginning of autumn", because "beginning of autumn" is earlier than "long summer" and is 13 of the 24 solar terms, and the time point is roughly between August 7 and 9 of the Gregorian calendar every year, obviously earlier than "long summer".

"Autumn" in agricultural proverbs should refer to autumn or autumn harvest season in the true climate sense. Because the "beginning of autumn" solar term has arrived, it doesn't mean that the autumn climate has arrived. Autumn in the real climate must be that the local average daily temperature is below 22C for five consecutive days.

There is also a popular saying in the agricultural proverb "Don't feed the old cow in summer and autumn" that "Don't cut the grain and feed the old cow in summer". Although there are some differences in writing and language, the actual meaning is the same.