24 MARCH 1933, Page 16

There is no question that real national work has been

done at Wexcombe and thereabouts in Wiltshire. "We are all shameless mimics," said one of the group, with gusto. On his rough farm an old Rolls-Royce was doing a (good part of the work. Mr. Hosier has not so much fulfilled Swift's ideal of making" two blades of grass grow where one grew before." He has made a deal of good grass grow where only bad grass (mauvaiscs herbes, as the French say) grew before. "I am happy when the mud comes through," said one expert. The idiom is not altogether symbolic of hope and prosperity to urban ears ; but it is one of the signs that valueless down is metamorphozed into precious pasture.