COUNTRY LIFE THERE seems to be a certain nervousness abroad
in the villages that the Parish Councils are to be done away with. It is more likely, so far as my information goes, that their powers are to be in some small measure extended. It would be all to the good if Parish Councils should regard themselves as leaders in the civic life of the villages, and grow_ busy with such things as the making of garden and allotment associations that might promote the ideal of local self-sufficiency. The defect of Parish Councils in general is not their lack of legal power, but their over- much reluctance to lead, to regard themselves as representatives of the village. In general, the Women's Institutes have a much stronger sense of leadership than Parish Councils and very much more than the workmen's clubs. If rather wider powers are given to the Councils, it is to be devoutly hoped that the added scope will persuade natural leaders to seek election and thereafter develop civic pride. The English village it, an ideal social unit, and one may sigh in regard to villagers the Virgilian wish towards the farmers, if only they knew their own goodi- "0 jortunatos nimium sua si bona norint! "
Australian Larks A visitor from overseas gives me the information that English larks have found their way to Tasmania. They are not uncommon, I believe, in New South Wales, and a good many other Antipodean birds are naturalised there. I once climbed a tree in a pleasant garden not far from Canberra, then just coming into being. As I sat on a comfortable limb MO species of bird presented themselves. One was a white cockatoo with a very yellow crest, the other was a goldfinch, presently joined by several others. The association was not a little odd. We have, alas! introduced some most undesirable immigrants into Australia, including the fox, the rabbit and the bramble. In Tasmania, it is alleged, one of the worst weeds is the sweet briar! It is to be hoped that the larks will not be included in such an index expurgatorius. Some British farmers abuse the lark ; but not, in my opinion, with any justice, though a bevy of them may make a patch or two of young wheat look untidy. An English introduction that was wholly pleasing to my eyes was the oak, especially as represented by the memorial oaks in the beautiful
• park by Perth.
.Forgotten Anne !
A recent reference to Anne Pratt has evoked a number of queries as to the identity of this botanist and the name of her book. She was, in her day at least, as well known as Bentham and Hooker. The full title of her book—hardly a snappy title—is The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges and Ferns of Great Britain, published by Warne and Co. She is, on the whole, accurately scientific, but excels in references to old recipes and remedies and to Continental names. In the editions with coloured illustrations no one gives a better aid to identification. My own only objection to the lady is that she quotes a deal of very indifferent poetry. It is always apposite, but appositeness is not often a particularly poetic quality. Even in" The Land "—that most charming Sackville- West Georgic, as perhaps even in Virgil—the only bad passages are those that are most relevant. There is, for example, a description of fruit-tree spraying that suggests Mr. Middleton at his best!
A New Diver A sportsman asks me whether I have ever seen a pheasant or other such bird dive! He assures me that on four separate occasions he has seen wounded pheasants which fell into water put down their heads and dive as smoothly and easily as a moorhen. Most birds and, I think, all quadrupeds can swim a little, but dive! That is wholly new to my experience, at any rate. Perhaps those with a wider experience may have known instances? Incidentally, the best swimmer that I have seen among dry-land mammals is the hare. I once watched one deliberately swim across a small but strongly flowing stream.
In My Garden Some visitor complained the other day of the monotonous appearance of the cabbage on English dinner-tables ; but however this may be, the hardest job of the gardener is to provide green food the next month or two to vary the leek, the artichoke and the carrot. I find the most enduring of the cabbages to be a variety of the thousand-headed kale ; but January King is much better to eat, and will last into March. The gap in greenery is perhaps best filled by cress and frame-grown or cloche-grown lettuces. Cloches completely saved my lettuces from ruin Postage on this issue: Inland, lid.; Overseas, rd.
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