COUNTRY LIFE
IT has long been said, and with truth, that the farmer despises the garden ; and his own garden has often been a most miserable affair. On the other hand, the farm labourer has always delighted in his garden ; and most of his class are qualified to go out as gardeners. May we take a Buckinghamshire experiment as a sign of a changed mind In the farmer ? The county agricultural station is installing a demonstradon cottage garden (complete with vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers and hedges). More than this, it is tilted that there be also erected a cottage, fully equipped with the conveniences that could be obtained by the cottager, and should, where possible, be supplied by architect and builder. The whole idea emanates from the Village Produce Association—the V.P.A.- and its most practical—and imaginative--director, Miss Talbot. With what solid rapidity this beneficent organisation is advancing the figures of membership well illustrate. In East Sussex, for example—" in a fair field, in a fair field "—a cool thousand new members joined during the year. This is the right sort of answer to those critics who want the village to be converted into a small town, complete with theatre and such urban attractions. All cottages should be given good gardens.
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