An Offending Shire Is Staffordshire a peculiarly ruthless or urbanly
ignorant county ? About ninety per cent, of the complaints I have heard of flower destruc- tion come from this part of the world. Here is a country Rector's experi- ence: " While sitting at my own door (in a large Staffordshire rectory) two women walked up the drive with bundles of (my) rooted ferns in their arms. Hey, Mister,' they called when they saw me, Give us some paper to wrap these plants in!" What could he do about it ? On another occasion an urban group, while going round his garden, started to pick the strawberries in trusses. as if they were currants and complained that only a few on each truss were ripe, They had never seen them growing before. I had one somewhat similar experience in another shire. Two Italian visitors were brought to call. They saw my lilies of the valley grown on the north side of a bush and at once fell to, picking the lot: " We did not know," they exclaimed, " that they grew wild I "
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