COUNTRY LIFE
SINCE the fact cannot be ignored, it may be as well to state openly that countrymen in very many districts are seriously alarmed by the activities of the Town and Country Planning Association, on which the Garden Cities are strongly represented. I hear that many members of one Rural District Council in the North have resigned because they perceived that they were being urged or wheedled into suburbanising their own countryside. Like many others, they felt that the Association would more fitly be called the Town and Suburban Planning Association. As this and that scheme comes into the open, it appears that the plan is not to preserve or conserve the country but to establish a mongrel unit that is neither town nor country; and it may be that this progeny will inherit the_defects rather than the virtues of both parents. The planners, of course, have the support of all countrymen when they would substitute well- considered schemes for ribbon development and the promiscuous multiplication of " concrete mendacities " ; but the country as such needs preservation, not reconstruction. The whole weight and emphasis of the planners is turned to the work of substituting many smallish towns for a few big ones. Its care for the countryside as such is secondary or non-existent. The ideals for which,' say, Professor Patrick Abercrombie and Mr. F. J. Osborn stand respectively are sometimes ,adverse rather than complementary.
Suburbitis
Garden Cities are an excellent idea—and incidentally their financial status has greatly improved of late. They are pleasant enough places ; but their rural aspect is apt to be whittled down. The theory of the " Agricultural Belt " that was to help feed the city with fresh local food is sacrificed to the builder in search of a desirable site ; and this tends to multiply rural districts of the much advertised green belt, which is designed not to protect the country but to make a suburban playground for the sake of the town ; and the country is asked to subscribe heavily to plans for its own ruin. In general our civilisation is hindered by nothing so much as the failure of mutual understanding and sympathy between town and country. There is a real danger that the enmity between the two may be exacerbated by the suburbanites.
An English Parrot
A country house dweller the other day met a local but unknown pedestrian who asked him if he had such a thing as a birdcage to spaie. Under interrogation as to the cause of so unusual a request, he explained that he had found a parrot, and from behind his back produced a perfectly good green woodpecker. His story was that he had found this bird and a hawk fighting furiously in the mouth of a rabbit hole, with the beak of the " parrot " firmly fixed in the neck of the hawk. He was positive that the other bird was some sort of hawk. There is no reason to disbelieve his story, though he was hardly an ornithologist. Do hawks ever attack woodpeckers? The man was in doubt whether to keep or stuff his bird ; but was induced to abandon both alternatives, and when let go the woodpecker flew happily away.
Weather Signs
It is one of the most prevalent theories of country weather lore that hard weather before Christmas means mild weather in " black Janiveer." It would be interesting to know from the statisticians, who have destroyed most local prognostic maxims, whether there is any backing for the belief. I came this week upon a new weather sign An old shepherd used to declare with conviction that rain would fall soon " if the old ram rubbed his back-side against yon hurdle." It is the most local symptom I have come across.
In the Garden A good many garden operations are independent on any nicety of timing, for example, the sowing of broad beans, spraying and pruning. On the other hand, the application of most artificial manures must be very nicely timed. Since potash, necessary for the flavour as we as fertility of fruit, especially small fruit, is most effective in February it may be suggested that prunings should be ready for Februati bonfires. Such potash, loses its quality if wetted, so should be us at the first possible moment. Among winter flowers that mo attractive shrub, prunus subhirtella autumnalis, has just begun Postage on this issue : Inland and Overseas, rd.
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