1 AUGUST 1931, Page 14

FLOWERS AND THE PUBLIC.

Is the British public, on its aesthetic side, " Therion " or Theos," a beast or an angel ? Two modern instances suggest diametrically opposite replies. Wicken Fen, a delightful sanctuary, where at the moment the swallow-tailed butterfly may be seen on the wing any day, is separated from less holy ground by a broad dyke which is singularly congenial to the water-lily. A friend who visited the sanctuary this summer for the first tune said to me " I did not know so many water-lilies were to be found in any place in the world." Now not one single lily is to be seen on the part of the water which can be reached by the public, though they grow thick as daisies on the waters over which the wardens of the sanctuary have a watching brief. The contrast is a perfect example of the effects of preservation, an excellent object lesson in the needs of such beneficent societies as Flora's League.