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Letters to
the Editor - January 2009
Strolling through Idbury, I was about to follow the main street where
the manor house looms forbiddingly — it was where The Countryman’s
founder, J W Robertson, lived from 1923 to 1962 and founded the magazine
in 1927 — when my eye caught the round plaque shape carved into
the stone above the window over the front door.
Now it was some years since I had walked through dear old Idbury,
but I felt sure there used to be words within the shape which you could
just about read if the sun was right, but now I couldn’t make
out a thing; lettering on soft Cotswold stone does weather fast if
it’s not incised deeply enough.
Anyway, I made use of the compact binoculars I carry in my pocket
and found that I could read the following:
“O more than happy Countryman if he but
knew his good fortune.”
Who was the author of these words and who caused them to be carved
? The Great Old Man himself? I would imagine so.
Also is there a strong whiff of paternalism there or does the sentiment
speak sincerely to all those who live in the country both now as well
as in the harsh economic times of Robertson’s earlier years when
the beauties of the landscape often failed to sweeten the poverty and
hardships of those many born and bred to a country life?
To be sure the Robertsons were a rare old couple who earned both great
respect and hearty dislike in their Idbury days. (Readers can learn
more at Idbury’s own website.)
For me, reading the words in question brought an added resonance to
our magazine’s plain and sensible title, The Countryman.
Rob Lamb, by email
I read with interest the letter (November) from F Allen concerning
Peter Joyce and his father H S Joyce.
I knew Peter very well and we would often talk about his father.
Interestingly, Peter used to tell me that his father was a fairly
regular contributor to The Countryman in its early years, although
I have never seen any such early copies of the magazine.
I have managed to acquire copies of all the books that H S Joyce wrote
about the countryside, including I Was Born in
the Country and By Field
and Stream. Written in the 1930s, they still make interesting and in
many cases relevant reading today.
H S Joyce was also an excellent wildlife artist and he illustrated
all his books himself.
Richard Parsons, Combe Martin, North Devon
In answer to Jack Ogden’s query (November) regarding whitesmiths,
I have a brother-in-law who was one and during the last war was exempt
from military service as it was a reserved occupation. He lived in
Newcastle-on-Tyne. I wonder how many others there were?
Joan Turner, Hertford
I am writing in response to Jack Ogden’s letter regarding the
occupation of ‘whitesmith’.
Unlike him, I have always been familiar with the term, having had
one in the family, so to speak.
Most of my father’s forebears lived in or near
Newark, Notts, but my great-grandmother came from over the border in
Grantham, Lincs.
Her brother, William Sharp, is recorded in the 1871 census as being
a ‘whitesmith’ (working in tin plate or other ‘bright’ metals).
As he was only sixteen at the time, he could have been a craft apprentice
or, if less skilled, a polisher; the term applied to both the metalworkers
and their ‘finishers’.
The interest for me is that this was a breakaway from the labouring
occupations (mostly in the gypsum and malting industries) of most of
his peers, an upward move that was to increase as the 1870 Education
Act improved the chances of the succeeding generations, as subsequent
census returns showed.
Sadly, I do not know whether young William made the grade and stuck
to his calling — something I hope, one day, to find out.
John Alcock, Wootton Wawen, Warks
In the late 1960s I read a report from Warwick University on the great
decline of soil quality and structure.
I can only imagine the situation is now much worse. But with the changing
of the agricultural business climate and the huge price increase in
fertilisers, fuel and other outgoings, a new approach needs to be thought
of. The poor quality referred to was because of lack of humus.
My thoughts go back to my early farming days in the 1940s and the
wonderful quality of the new grassland, in many cases the great work
of Sir George Stapleton and his team at Aberystwyth with their new
strains of wild white clover, Irish and Italian ryegrass, and of Sir
George’s mantra of “slag, lime and wild white”.
Now we know clover is great for fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere
in the soil, and the turf of two- and three-year leys did marvels for
keeping up the quality of humus.
Lucerne is even better and for three years or so gives up to five
crops of top-quality hay or silage plus a bit of grazing too; when
ploughed there is all that humus and nitrogen plus the help to the ‘carbon
footprint’.
Are there still farmers back in UK who are able to work this kind
of agriculture?
We do it here in Lucerne: beef and milk cows are fed only on farm-produced
cereals, silage and hay; yields may be less but so are the outgoings;
and so small farmers make a living with a good quality of life that
people like me can only fondly remember (forgetting all the hard work
of course). But we did work only to pay off the bank which is surely
the case and the treadmill which many farmers are on today.
Paul Berkeley, by email
In the November issue I read with great interest Mark Hamblin’s
article ‘Crane School takes to the wing’. In the article,
reference is made to “techniques successfully
used in America to rear wild whooping cranes”.
It may be of note to readers that the American-based conservation
group known as Operation Migration has been in the lead with developing
and implantation of these techniques since the late 1980s, firstly
with conservation work with Canada geese and then duly applying the
proven techniques to cranes in early 2001.
Since then Operation Migration in partnership with the US Fish and
Wildlife and the International Crane Foundation have increased the
numbers of these birds to over 500 cranes in North America.
One hopes that Operation Migration’s successful way of doing
things will be fully adopted here in Great Britain. There seems to
be little point redesigning the wheel when a winning formula is readily
available.
The migration of ‘Class of 2008’ is now in progress
with a reported fourteen birds.
J Ellis, by e-mail
Reading Joan Frisby’s letter (September) about Tommy Farr,
I find watching boxing rather difficult and it was made even more so
by my first and only sight of Tommy Farr in the early 1950s. I was
working as a trainer’s secretary in Findon, Sussex.
Tommy Farr was very keen on his horses, and used to come and see them.
Many owners did not care very much as long as they got the results.
(Our yard was held by Ryan Price at that time; Josh Gifford had it
after I left. My husband had been a rear gunner during the war, and
later my husband, family and I joined the infamous Ten Quid Trippers
and emigrated to Australia.)
I happened to go down to the yard with a message and saw these two
really pleasant-looking women escorting a man up the yard to the Prices’s
house — he needed their support and did not look too good.
I did not meet him (weekends were always rather hectic in racing).
I asked someone who it was that had just come, and they told me it
was Tommy Farr and that he really enjoyed seeing the yard and his (I
think from memory) two horses. He was, as Joan Frisby said, a lovely
man.
That cured me for life of even watching boxing.
Pat Coleby, Maldon
Mr Caffin writes (September) about ‘Diktats’ from Brussels.
But nothing becomes EU law until approval by twenty-seven national
governments, including ours, and normally also the European Parliament.
He can hardly call ‘Diktat’ something agreed after public
democratic discussion and ministerial and parliamentary vote. Opponents
of the EU like Mr Caffin seek to abuse language to discredit co-operation
with our European partners.
Graham Watson MEP, European Parliament
October’s issue had an article by Miriam Darlington on Rosa
canina. In it was a recipe for rosehip syrup, dated 1943. Having used
hips and haws, blackberries and elderberries in crab-apple jelly, I
tried my hand at gathering two tablespoons of hips and following the
recipe. The result is wonderful and the colour glorious, the taste
superb — thank
you, Miriam.
Mrs Dickie Thompson, Holcombe
We welcome readers' letters,
which should be sent to:
Countryman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton,
North Yorkshire BD23 3AG
Or email: editorial@thecountryman.co.uk
The editor reserves the
right to edit letters for length and clarity. |
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