Scented MUSK MAY RETURN

Evening Star, Issue 21820, 8 September 1934, Page 23

Scented MUSK MAY RETURN

Twenty years ago the gardens of Britain suifered a tragic loss. The sweet-smelling little musk plant one met everywhere, creeping along the flagstone path of an old English cottage garden, smiling in the window boxes, and in the posies sold by the flower girls in the city streets, suddenly vanished. The musk had lost its scent and nobody knew why. But in a year or two we may see the musk plants in our gardens again, as sweet-smelling as ever, for Canada is solving the mystery of the musk and its lost scent. The Royal Bot’nnical Gardens investigated each report of scented musk in Britain after its strange disappearance, but all proved to be unfounded. Then, in Columbia, and in a little island off the American coast, where musk grows wild, two Canadian botanists, Mr Stanley Boys and Mrs .lulio Hensbaw, made a remarkable discovery. They found the scented musk growing in its wild state. It is hoped to bring some to Britain to restock the gardens which have been devoid of the wonderful scent of musk for twenty years. By comparing the scented'musk with the scentless musk, the mystery of the lost scent may also bo solved. When the musk lost its scent it. was only living its natural life, for a scented imisk was really an accident of Nature. But Nature can be unkind as well as bountiful. She does not want the music, to be scented, and even when we have the scented mnsk plant in our gardens again Nature may yet steal it from ns.