COUNTRY LIFE
LAST week I saw with no little pleasure, in the neighbourhood of Salis- bury, a high wall of rubble newly and expertly thatched in the old manner. It was good craftsman's work, and was evidence, as I gather, of a real revival of the art of thatching within the shire. The course of the revival is perhaps worth the imitation of other districts, and after all has not Wiltshire a historic claim to be a pioneer in rural matters ? If agricultural why not also domestic ? The thatching revival is the result, in part at any rate, of co-operation between the central Rural Industries Bureau, which is excellently managed, and a local society especially formed for the improvement (and preservation) of Wiltshire cottages. There should be found in every county such a body whose business it is to be in touch with the Rural Industries Bureau. Much has been done in many places in respect of the blacksmith's craft, both in dealing with the complicated agricultural machinery which has supplanted the horse, and in such artistic work as the making of ornamental gates. Much less has been done in home-making, the most essential of alrrural crafts, and herein lies the importance of the Wiltshire example.
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