132
The Ypres Times.
area Reninghelst, 25.4.18. Any information
would be gratefully received by Mr. and Mrs.
Pether, 14. Northcote Road, Sheffield.
Mrs. G. A. Colburn, of 113, Minstead Road,
Gravelly Hill, Erdington, Birmingham, seeks
information regarding her husband, Gunner
George Alfred Colburn, No. 705434, A Battery,
R.F.A., 210 Brigade, 42nd Division. She writes
After leaving Headquarters for the Dressing
Station although I heard from a friend he was
wounded in the ankle with a stray shell whilst
asleep in bed on the night of September llth/12th,
1917, and was taken off to the dressing station,
I was informed by the War Office a month after
that date that he was dead, had died on September
llth/12th. Yet after many fruitless attempts
can gain no information whatever regarding
what became of him, which seems very strange
seeing he was at the time at Headquarters and
not in the line."
During the month of January, 1915, the 3rd
and 4th Battalions 60th Rifles were holding some
trenches and breastworks round St. Eloi which
were very wet (in places knee deep) and the
ordinary knee gum boots often became full of
water. During one of the spells outa
rifleman of the 3rd Battalion saw a dead French
man lying in a cellar in Dickebusch with a glorious
pair of knee boots on and immediately started
to exchange boots. He had managed to lace
one up and had nearly finished the other when
the Frenchman awoke. There is nothing on
record as to what the Frenchman thought, said,
or did, but the storv is true.
B. R. F.
ENGLISH ROSES FOR YPRES.
By a Correspondent.
One day in the Summer of 1921 as we were
coming away from the big monument and ceme
tery in Polygon Wood, we passed a hut at the
foot, a woman was standing outside, a lonely
figure in the midst of that awful devastation
she spoke to us, and said it was very triste
there, even now, often, they find the bodies of
your English soldiersyesone close to our
door She then showed us her neat little
garden, all vegetables except for one small rose
tree of which she was very proud. We asked her
if she would like some plants from our garden,
vegetable seeds, etc. Madame was enraptured
at the idea, and the seeds and plants were duly
sent, including a young rambler rose. We
received beautifully written letters of thanks
from Madame and family, in one of which she said,
We see you do not forget les pauvres du
front
In 1921 I again went to Flanders and there I
found my rose tree 9 or 10 ft. high over the door
of the hut, a little hedge of Scotch roses, a row
of tree lupins several feet high, and other plants,
in spite of the great drought which had killed
some of the things, and last, but not least, I
found a life-long friendship between Madame and
myself.
To send a parcel of plants three forms have
to be obtained from the Post Office, one in dupli
cate, these forms are very simple, but another
must be obtained from the Board of Agriculture,
72, Victoria Street, London, S.W. 1. This form
is headed, International Phylloxera Convention,"
and has to be countersigned by a magistrate
known to the sender. I got six of these forms,
had them all countersigned and have them ready
for future parcels.
Probably anyone wishing to send out such
parcels will know how to pack them, but I give
the following directions in case they may be of use.
All earth must be washed away from the roots.
I then wrapped up the roots of the small plants,
each kind separately, in wet moss, or wet news
paper, then I tied up each little lot in a cabbage
leaf or part of a rhubarb leaf, any larger plant
I tied up separately as aboverose and other
cuttings in the same way. I labelled everything,
and said which rambler roses would not grow on a
wall, and that all old shoots must be cut down
every autumn. Any hardy perennial plants can
be sent, of course only small pieces of large
plants because of the weight. Herbs, strawberry
runners, raspberry canes, cuttings of hardy
perennial shrubs, of bush roses, and of rosemary
above allScotch rose suckers are excellent, and
small plants like pinks, polyanthus, etc.also
seeds of hardy annuals. I then packed everything
tightly into a strong cardboard box, and securely
wrapped it up in several sheets of strong brown
paper and tied it up with stout string. No parcel
must weigh over 11 lbsthe cost is about 2s. 8d.
Not one parcel was lost.
Last autumn, besides other parcels, I sent two
out to the Church Army Captain at Ypres, one
contained a young rambler rose plant, and the
other rose cuttings and hardy rock plants, etc.
I have recently received this letter from him,
August 22nd, 1922
Your rambler rose is now in full bloom and
is lovely. The cuttings you sent me last autumn
are growing, in fact some of them have large
bunches of roses on them Every little piece
grew of everything you sent."
I have just planted 200 rose cuttings of rambler
roses and hardy bush roses, so that the young
plants can be sent out next year. Cuttings should
be sent soon. It is a little trouble, of course,
but surely well worth while, for it will be a comfort
to know that roses and old-fashioned flowers
from the homes they died to save will bloom
along the ways our dear lads used to pass those
four terrible years of the Great War. Also
will it not help to show our Belgian friends that
when we look upon our lovely gardens we do not
forget their ruined ones
Mr. Brooks, Church Army, Ypres, has kindly
consented to receive parcels.
M. S.
