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NEWSLETTER No. 44 April 1991 Dear Friend of the Library, First of all, a warm welcome to Lillian Chow, who last month began her duties as Dorothy Jones' successor. We wish her well in her new position and promise to be good Friends. She has willingly agreed to type our Newsletters, so here goes: This is a fairly quiet time of year for the Friends, but we shall soon be flexing our muscles for the June Book Sale. We are still hoping to arrange a Casino Night or two in June or July. As there's not much happening right now lets talk about SPRING! It is almost here, I think. All the gardening enthusiasts will still be enjoying the usual succession of spring flowers and eagerly planning summer colour, with annuals and those hardy perennials, hoping they survived the cold spells we had, not to mention all the usual flowering shoots. The range and number of gardening books is now so extensive that there is something for every situation, soil and owner's inclination, plus those wonderful "picture books" of other people's gardens all over the world which make it all look so easy. The Library contains a number of books by the English author, Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), whose works include fiction ("The Edwardians" and "All Passion Spent" probably the best known), biography, travel and collections of gardening articles (a 1986 anthology by Robin Lane Fox called "The Illustrated Garden Book" is especially good). Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson designed and made the world-famous garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, now owned by the National Trust and visited by people from all over the world, including B.C. I'm sure! Vita also wrote poetry, including two book-length poems about the country -"The Land" (published in 1926) and "The Garden" (1946). Each was divided into four sections called after the four seasons. These two books were re-published in 1989 in a new, one-volume edition with delightful illustrations not found in the original editions. They have long been favourites of mine. I am not really a poetry addict, but these two poems are beautifully written, in lines that have a graceful, classical rhythm, not "prose on short lines". Vita's poetry is easy to understand and relate to, particularly "The Garden". She speaks from long personal experience. I hope you will enjoy the following extracts from the Spring section of "The Garden" (some editing was necessary due to limited space here). April's the busy month, the month that grows Faster than hand can follow at its task; No time to relish and no time to bask, (though when indeed is that the gardener's lot, However large, however small his plot?) April's the month for pruning of the rose, April's the month when the good gardener sows More annuals for summer, cheap and quick,