I 



To the Canadian visitor, the country 

 parts of old England are full of 

 interest. The roads are perfect 

 for cycling or for coaching and never 

 deep with dust as ours so often are, so 

 that pedestrians and carts may all fol- 

 low the one track. Indeed they are too 

 narrow to allow of a footpath, and in 

 places it is with difficulty that an auto 

 and a coach can pass each other be- 

 tween the hedges which border them. 



During a recent visit the writer had 

 the privilege of travelling through the 

 counties of Hampshire, Dorsetshire, 

 Devonshire, Somersetshire and Wilt- 

 shire, in part by rail and in part by 

 coach. One thing particularly took his 

 attention, the vast extent of country de- 

 voted to pasture. Instead of small farms 

 of one or two hundred acres, each with 

 its substantial farm house, and divided 

 into orchard, garden, grain and pasture 

 plots, we travelled hundreds of miles 

 through meadows that looked as if they 

 were never touched with plow or spade. 



A beautiful country indeed, with its 

 hills and vales of emerald green, subdi- 

 vided into lots of all shapes and sizes 

 by dark green hedges ; but looking at it 

 from the commercial viewpoint of a Ca- 

 nadian one cannot help thinking how 

 much more it might yield and how many 

 more lives it would support, if our sys- 

 tem of small farms could be introduced, 

 each owner making the most of his small 

 estate. 



After reading of the stately homes of 

 England, one is naturally disappointed 

 at seeing so little of them ; in fact, in 

 all our coaching tours in Devonshire we 

 saw far fewer good houses than we 



Rural England 



Linus Woolverton, Grimsby, Ontario 



would see in any good farming district 

 of Ontario. This is because the homes 

 of the nobility, and even those of the 

 country squires, are far removed from 

 the public roads and screened from view 

 by being situated in the midst of wooded 

 parks. 



Along the roadsides one often passes 

 curious old-fashioned workmen's cot- 

 tages with thatched roofs, often vine- 

 clad and having fruit trees trained up 

 the side. In their vicinity the ubiquit- 

 ous buckthorn hedge is varied by a vine- 

 clad stone wall, interesting because of 

 its antiquity. Here and there the tour- 

 ist passes through a whole village of 

 such houses lining the sides of the road, 

 themselves forming the walls of it and 

 having their doors opening into the very 

 street. Combe Martin is such a place, 

 extending a mile and a half with its curi- 

 ous hedges. 



The west coast of Devonshire is very 

 rocky, with high cliffs and precipitous 

 banks. In September, 1909, we spent a 

 week at Ilfracombe, which is situated 

 at the mouth of the Bristol channel. It 

 is a fashionable watering place for Lon- 

 doners, combining, as Charles Kingsley 

 says, "The soft warmth of South Dev- 

 on with the bracing freshness of the 

 Welsh Mountains." On the rugged 

 coast delightful walks have been made 

 at immense cost by the art of man. 



Another very curious seaside place 

 some' fifteen miles distant from Il- 

 fracombe is Clovelly, which may be 

 reached by steamer. It is described as 

 the "quaintest and perhaps the most 

 beautiful little village in all Devon. It 

 consists of one main street or staircase. 



with a few houses climbing on each side 

 of the Combe. The houses, each stand- 

 ing on a higher or lower level than its 

 neighbor, are all whitewashed, with gay 



High Street, CIoTelly, England 



green doors and lattices, and the gen- 

 eral effect is curiously foreign looking." 

 It was most surprising to us as Ca- 

 nadians to see every little dooryard in 

 an English town closed in with a stone 

 wall or iron gate and the little plot 

 crowded every inch with blooming flow- 

 ers. In especial prominence we noticed 

 the fuchsia growing like a shrub in the 

 open, and laden with crimson bloom; 

 and the Thos. Hogg hydrangea — with 

 us grown only in pots and tubs — there a 

 hardy garden shrub, laden with huge 

 tresses of beautiful pink. 



A PicloreuiBe Scene in OU EngUnd — A Devontbirc Lane Near LTatea 



115 



The Popular Sweet Pea 



A. V. Main, Almonte, Ont. 



To get early bloom in sweet peas and 

 to give the plants a good start prior to 

 a dry spell, early sowing is advisable. An 

 open position free from severe winds and 

 where the sun will not be blazing on them 

 constantly from rising to setting, is suit- 

 able. Poor, thin soil will not \x satis- 

 factory. Plant in fairly good garden soil. 

 Dig out a trench the desired length, 

 about the depth and width of a spade. In 

 the bottom put about six inches of good 

 manure. Throw the soil on to it and 

 fill up the trench. Allow it to settle for 

 two or three days. Draw out a drill two 

 inches deep, down the middle of the pre- 



