NOBLESSE OBLIGE 51 



upper greensand in West Sussex," King 

 Edward vil, who had an eye for pretty soil as 

 well as for pretty ladies, used frequently to stay 

 at West Dean ; but this park now belongs to 

 the new aristocracy of commerce, and the 

 Committee had ordered the breaking up of 

 107 acres. 



Coming to Cowdray, I found the Mogul 

 tractor at work breaking up a part called " The 

 Lawns," and here the Agricultural Committee 

 had selected some 70 acres of undoubtedly 

 good turf, which had never been ploughed 

 before, and which looked capable of growing 

 bumper crops. But inside the park not a single 

 sod of grass had been turned over. Yet an old 

 man told me his grandfather had spoken to 

 him of the days when this land was ploughed. 

 Possibly an ex-Air Minister did not understand 

 what tightening the belt meant to those who 

 had to live laborious days to keep England 

 from starvation. 



I was told by farmers at Chichester that 

 Petworth Park was not worth ploughing, but 

 when I reached Petworth, and talked to estate 

 men who had worked in the park for a great 

 number of years, I found quite a different 

 opinion prevailing. Take, for instance, the 

 level ground fronting the Midhurst road, 

 between the first and second eates in the 

 wall which, by the way, extends for 14 miles. 

 Here I found one man who actually remem- 



