19 JANUARY 1940, Page 21

COUNTRY LIFE

A New Complexion

The scenery of England will be a good deal altered by the war. More timber is being cut, factories are being ingeniously converted into pleasances, a deal of grass (which is the most English thing in England next to the hedgerow) has been and will be ploughed up, and new crops are to be grown. The most beautiful of these is linseed. A field in blossom is like a bit of the sky fallen down. We have grown too little in the past, perhaps because the emphasis on fibre has made us inattentive to the value of the seed.