WITH THE TROOPS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 174, 17 June 1940, Page 6

WITH THE TROOPS

DESERT GARDENS O (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). The same pride which residents of a garden suburb take in their well-kept homes has been shown by many members of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the \vay they have added a domestic touch to their desert camp. There is hardly a cluster of tents which has not by some means been improved in appearance. Whitewashed stones, for example, mark out parade grounds, patlvsvays and tent entrances everywhere. This is a form of decoration developed to a high grade by some units, which have laid out intricate designs in front of their headquarters. Landscape gardening in stones, however, is comparatively simple. Real flowers bloom in the officers' lines in one section of the Divisional Headquarters area. Potted plants flourish at the doorway of almost every tent. In the transformation of the entrance to the officers' mess in the* same area there is proof of a remarkable triumph over gardening obstacles. Two neatly-trimmed ormi mental trees flank the pathway, pot plants form a veritable flower border, and creepers are being encouraged to climb wire supports. Even a patch of turf, transported from the irrigated land beside the Nile, is struggling to survive the dry lieat reflected by the desert sand. The pride and joy of one of the men's tents in another part of the camp is an aspidistra which is tend :;d ns carefully as it would be in any suburban draAving room. Each of its leaves has been dedicated to individual members of the tent's personnel. Its origin is kept a dark secret, and the reply to questions Is that it Avas merely "acquired." This home away from home mov" ment is probably j)romp Led by the same spirit that moves the staff at one cookhouse to chalk up menus offering delicacies Avith such namns is "braised steak a la) Hitler's hide' tml "Goebelis Hash." A mess-troom ;ign, "Moaners' Res!;," may also spring from lit*; same source. Such trends as these seem to point to the Vxson that man. even in uniform, s a domestic creature.