COUNTRY LIFE
AN almost springlike welcome is being extended to the New Y. At the corner of the bed the invincible lungwort shows a nuns of pink flowers. Half-way up the bed, on a slope cut for a bird-b pink primroses are numerous enough to make a bouquet ; and bey them Zephyrine Drouhin still holds open a fragrant bloom. The he (Erica Carnea) opens below a flowery gorse. One prunus is in f flower (the invaluable P. Subhirtella) and two guelders (Tinus Fragrans) ; but the crown of New Year flowers is, as ever, Iris Styli. Each morning as you peer into the chignon of untidy leaves you see new mauve bud beginning to open. It is perhaps the one flower that loveliest when set in a vase; and there it is well set off by a spray the winter jasmine which is now almost at its peak. Some of th flowers have been visited by a few over-bold honey bees. All s symptoms of spring need some search, or at least a certain peering. birds give a more potent message. The hungry winter flocks from North have heard from dawn to dusk hilarious songs from the nazi thrush ; and tits, wrens, robins, larks and even the hedge-sparrow ha dared humbler jets of song. Food has been singularly plentiful ; and it a great inspirer of pre-vernal song, or in the case of the rooks, now busy about their nesting sites, of talk.
Old Farms and New City An ingeniously argued and thoughtful pamphlet—giving in effect Garden City idea of the New England—has been issued by the To and Country Planning Association. Some criticism of the Associatio point of view, published in this place a fortnight ago, may •perhaps ha been misunderstood, and in any event it is well to clarify a v important issue. The fact is that rural authorities and individuals to grow afraid of the free sprinkling of new towns over agricultural 1. and fair landscapes. Our legislators in general are so urban-minded when it comes to a fight, well, the farmer and the Ministry of Agricul are likely to lose. Husbandry will go to the wall. Even more urgen than in war-time a really strong Minister of Agriculture will be need. Nothing is more important than an access of power and virtue to Cinderella among ministries. What a quick succession of ineffect birds of passage filled the office in the interval of the two wars, from great betrayal of 1921 onwards. Fears of what may happen are v definitely expressed in the latest pronouncement of the Rural R struction Association, whose master spirit, Mr. Montague Fordham, a wise statesman if ever there was one. It is to be hoped that his lat• little book, The Land and Life, Routledge, 45., will receive an access strength from all good rural philosophers. It is interesting to remem that Mr. Fordham, an English farmer, owes much of his insight to practical experience on Russian farms. The present, temporary addr• or the Association is " The Severals," Seer Green, Beaconsfield.
Breathing Zones
In a potted biography of that energetic genius Loudon, whose centen is about to be celebrated, appears the interesting detail that be ur the preservation or formation of " breathing zones " around our big towns. The " green belt " is not a new idea ; and the earlier, humb scheme is probably the better. Loudon deserves a real revival. He is important in our landscape garden literature as John Evelyn hims Some of the more interesting events in his varied life are well outlined The Field.
In the Garden It is the conviction of some of our best vegetable gardeners that variety of winter cabbage can rival " January King." It looks rat large and coarse; but is nevertheless well flavoured and as firm as blown football. This firmness keeps the centre • tender and absolut proof against either rain or frost. Several enquiries reach me on t Christmas subject of hollies and how to multiply female plants. See take a year and a half to germinate ; but come up well. All holli layer easily and can be multiplied easily even at a good size, simply pinning down the boughs well into the earth. It is, however, better cut a " tongue " below the bud or to half strangle with a band of wire. Good hedge hollies can still be bought and a proportion of fe The fact that goods made of raw materials in short supply owing to war conditions are advertised in this tournal should not be taken as an indication that they are necessarily available for export.
Previous page
