COUNTRY LIFE
THE less said at the moment about either the beauty or accessibility of the English coast the better but even today there is evidence that both its
use and abuse are liitely to be on a scale never before approached. Holidays
with pay, now becoming general, and other changes will give, it is reckoned, some 20 million persons the opportunity of a seaside holiday,
schemes for hostels and camps by the side already multiply; and war has
accentuated rather than diminished enquiries for building sites. Stern legislation will be necessary and is being planned—planned with great skill and thoughtfulness (though they possess no direct power) by a committee of coast defence, so to call it, brought to birth by the National Trust, the C.P.R.E.. and Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths P.S. Two things are necessary: first to preserve particular bits famous for particular treasures, such as the seabirds' nursery on the Bempton Cliffs, or the popular haunt of rarer birds at and about Scolt Head, and, in a narrower reference, at Dungeness and St David's Head. Some places have a merely scenic and sentimental value that is a priceless national possession, such as Hartland Point, or Land's End or Pevensey. Of such spots a catalogue is being made and many of them are likely to be preserved "in perpetuity," but the general preservation is more important, and the hope is that the past will be remedied as well as the future preserved. The barring of the coast to access, • even where the barrier itself is not ugly, is a crime against the public and the loveliest spots, as at Looe, in Cornwall, are the worst sufferers.
Urban Sparrows On further enquiry, it seems that the impossible is happening: sparrows have become so rare in some localities, as in Hampshire, that their absence is regretted. The country sparrow does a good deal of good as well as harm. As an example, the prevalence of the cabbage white caterpillar last summer is attributed to the absence of sparrows. The town sparrow— and urban life is his preference—is wont to be wholly evil. He migrates to the country after the spring pests have had their being and takes a harvest holiday, living on our bread alone. Several destructive creatures are favoured by urban conditions. They include the carrion crow, a lover of suburbia, and the tawny owl, which now abounds in most towns and plays havoc with the nests of blackbirds and thrushes. The grey squirrel spread chiefly from the towns, though Woburn' (where later his extinction was ordered) was one centre. What a pity that our towns do not foster woodpeckers, as does Toronto, or "Willy Wagtails,'" as Perth. However, the parks, if not the streets of our tovins make full amends. Jesmond Dene in Newcastle and Kensington Gardens in London are both in some sort successful sanctuaries.
Hearts of Oak
A private letter has reached me from a great lover and encourager of trees. In it he writes: "I saw some of the finest larch in the country being felled along Derwent Water. They are locally known as the Twelve Apostles. . . . They escaped in the last war, but have now reached - maturity and are an example of what can be done by a wise mixture: the majority of trees surrounding them were broad-leafed trees. One of the trees contained over 300 cubic feet of timber, quite sound. Ash and beech are once more in demand for aeroplanes, and the British oak after lapse of time is now being again used in the construction of ships." It is pleasing to record that Hearts of Oak are not after all out of date. On the subject of trees the organisation of Men of the Trees has migrated to Puncknoll, near Dorchester, Dorset, and from there issues, as in peace- time, its tree calendar, containing a number of beautiful tree photographs, not to mention a long pamphleted poem inspired by trees. The really astonishing contribution to the war from British Forestry should help to make us all tree-minded; and this means that we should be willing to destroy trees past their prime as well as to plant new trees.
In the Garden
It has proved a peculiarly early season in the garden. On one highly expert farm all the Brussels Sprouts—our chief supply of winter greens— have already been gathered. This means that special care is necessary in both storing vegetables and protecting those left on the site or a grievous gap will widen. Every frame and every cloche should be used. One of the makers of cloches has issued an ingenious calendar of opera- tions. The cloche or bell-jar shortens the winter at both ends; it may ensure preservation of lettuce or whatnot against frost and enable sowings to be made in January and February. That lovely shrub, Viburnum Fragrans is already in blossom, breaking, I should say, most of the records but it has not anticipated the Laurustinus, which, of course, is also a Viburnum.
W. BEACH -THomAs.
Postage on this issue : Inland and Overseas, id.
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