ADVICE TO FARMERS
Sul,--Did Mr. Howard's schoolboy learn from his Italian prisoner how It make a basket our of the bramble Oct that is what the word rubea means)? This is a problem which has perplexed many students: How could the weaving be done? Would not the basket be very prickly, brittle, or fragile? What could it be used for? For me the problem av• s solved some years ago when I was living on the edge of a common in Berkshire, and my nearest neighbours were the gypsies, with whom I made friends: One winter's day a gypsy brought me a basket she had made out of the bramble: she had cut the thicker shoots into lengths of about one inch, stuck something sharp down the pith, and had strung these lengths together on string or wire. The basket had all the defects one would expect, and would have fallen to bits if 'anything had been put into it. In answer to the question, What` were these baskets made for?, she replied: " Oh, we don't make them for anything—just to fill in the time when the weather keeps us in ": frigidus agricolam si quando continet imber. A very ancient hobby.—
Previous page
