5 JUNE 1947, Page 18

Quick - set •

There are many vieWs (mostly of an excessive dogmatism—that "vice of puppyhood ") on the enclosures ; but there can be no doubt that we ought to thank the organisers for plumping for the hawthorn, quick or may, as the supreme hedge plant. Has the blossom ever been more glorious than this Whitsun? The whole country has looked like an orchard, and • its universality, not to mention its hot prevailing scent, puts it higher even than the cherry in our landscape virtues.

"Flower upon flower expands, May reigns in hawthorn lands,"

as wrote that good poet and excellent botanist, Lord de Tabley in his Auguries of May. Does anyone now read him? Few bushes or trees distribute themselves more successfully, for the seeds germinate most readily after passing through birds. Though the berries are heavy, you will scarcely find a seedling near the bushes, but—in my experience— among your rose bushes or under a lime-tree roost.