COUN IRY LIFE
IT was noticed by an urban observer that holly berries were not so red as they used to be. This is true, for the reason that the hothes are shorn at an earlier and earlier date. This year I found a whole tree, with a trunk three to four inches in diameter, cut down in the third week of November, when the berries were rather yellow than red. Such destruction is Hunnish ; and it is regrettable that modern Lords of the Manor take no steps to protect their property. Nor for that matter do the commoners. The old rights, privileges and duties both on commons and on larnmas land are all disregarded. It was not without reason that our mediaeval ancestors forbade commoners to cut any estovers (or necessary fuel) of more than II- inches in diameter ; and holly berries are less necessary for town dwellers than kindling for the country folk. The wealth of berries of most sorts is very great ; and there is no objection to plucking of small boughs. Honks are indeed the better for being pruned ; but the cutting of trunks should be forbidden and properly punished. IT was noticed by an urban observer that holly berries were not so red as they used to be. This is true, for the reason that the hothes are shorn at an earlier and earlier date. This year I found a whole tree, with a trunk three to four inches in diameter, cut down in the third week of November, when the berries were rather yellow than red. Such destruction is Hunnish ; and it is regrettable that modern Lords of the Manor take no steps to protect their property. Nor for that matter do the commoners. The old rights, privileges and duties both on commons and on larnmas land are all disregarded. It was not without reason that our mediaeval ancestors forbade commoners to cut any estovers (or necessary fuel) of more than II- inches in diameter ; and holly berries are less necessary for town dwellers than kindling for the country folk. The wealth of berries of most sorts is very great ; and there is no objection to plucking of small boughs. Honks are indeed the better for being pruned ; but the cutting of trunks should be forbidden and properly punished.
Animal Friendships
Someone, I think Mr. Massingham, claimed that the goose, in spite of the use of its name, was the cleverest of birds. It may also be the most friendly. A family living in East Anglia has, or had, two pets: one a lamb, the other a male goose. These two became inseparable, or rather the goose adopted the lamb as its faithful companion. It refused to be separated at night, and always dossed down in the sleeping place selected by the lamb. It was fond, too, of its master, would come to his whistle and accompany him on his walks, for instance, to the village post office, waiting for him outside the door till his business was done. The only other bird of my acquaintance that would go for a walk with his master was a tame partridge which would always come hurrying up in answer to the whistle. Another animal friendship was between a cat and a jackdaw, but it was often interrupted by the bird's incorrigible habit of tweaking the cat's tail when it wanted to sleep!
Fish and Hawks In a very small and very charming booklet on fishing experiences (A Little Fishing Book, at first published privately) Lord Harmsworth tells the moving tale of the shooting of osprey- on, a Surrey lake. The appearance of this fish-hunting hawk in the South of England, indeed anywhere within the island, is rare, but some recent evidence suggests that the hawks multiply in a good many places, whence they have disappeared in recent times. One of these is the buzzard It is now, of course, a very common bird in the West. Devon for example, and Merioneth, are popular with borrards, which nest both in trees and more rarely on the cliffs, and as they multiply in their favourite haunts they spread abroad, and Surrey is one of the counties where they have been seen of late. With- out the gun—and the camera—the kite would probably have returned, and the peregrine bred freely (in Pembrokeshire, at any rate) till the war. The blizzard is one of the least harmful, because of his strong preference for rabbits. What his alternative will be now the rabbit is disappearing it will be interesting to see. Is any bird more delightful to watch, whether over a Devon hillside or circling over the concentric focuses of Washington? It was there that the Brothers Wright watched the bird for hundreds of hours while they were designing the first aeroplane. Yet they too, like the osprey, are wantonly shot.
In the Garden
In answer to queries—(r) The new vegetable Celtuce was "created" by Burpee in Philadelphia, and seed is not yet procurable in England. A letter from the original hybridiser tells me that it prefers a cold climate and should do better in England than America. (2) The tree-surgeons (such as the Chiltern Tree-Surgeons, near Luton) cannot, I believe, ensure service during the war. (3) Pirus Japonica is a true quince and the fruit quite wholesome. It should really be called Cydonia. Fruit is so valuable that everyone is urged to use a winter spray within the next three months, and the sooner the better, for the plagues spread widely. The tar distillate sprays seem to destroy the grass under trees, but tend in fact to improve it, when new growth begins. As to manuring the trees and bushes, February is the best month for potash fertiliser, especially, perhaps, on raspberry canes.
W. BEACH TnomAs.
The fact that goods made of raw materials in short supply owing to war conditions are advertised in this journal should not be taken as an indication that they are necessarily available for export.
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