X PREFACE

But in restoring the sister industries of Agri-
culture and Horticulture to the honoured positions
which they once held and should always maintain
if a country is to remain strong, it is advisable to
take, as a model of women's share in such work,
what has been so splendidly carried out in Canada.
It may be suggested that social conditions in the
mother country render it out of the question to
build up anything approaching the Canadian
Women 's Institutes . Certainly, until recently, such
an attempt would have been fraught with difficulty,
but the war has altered much and is daily bringing
English life, that had unconsciously become over-
luxurious, unnecessarily complicated, impeded by
foolish, trivial conventionalities, back to the
simple, natural life that a young country like
Canada is accustomed to. It is easier, there, to
hold in mind that true sense of proportion which
in an old country is apt to be lost sight of.
If each year more thoroughly trained, educated
men and women settle in groups, as they have
done at Pershore and in other districts, and have
orchards and market gardens ; if landowners take
a pride in making their land pay, instead of con-
sidering their supervision of work a mere pastime,
the life that we formerly led will be changed, and
conditions wider in outlook and healthier in every
way, like those that exist in Canada, will be sought
for in the mother country.
