Archived report · 2 min read · Set in Cold Ashton ·
Allotment Scarecrow Inspection at Cold Ashton
The parish allotment committee at Cold Ashton inspects the scarecrows on each plot, and the one on the north plot, dressed in a tweed jacket and a straw hat, is found to have moved its feet to the furrows between the cabbages overnight.
- filed: Filed with the allotment committee minutes
- reference: AL/CA/08
Subject: scarecrows and plot markers, Cold Ashton allotments, north site, plots 1 to 24.
1. The site was laid out in 1919 and comprises twenty-four plots of varying size, divided by gravel paths and a central water tank. Each plot holder is responsible for pest control within their own boundary. The committee inspects each plot twice a year.
2. Twenty-three plots were found to have standard straw figures, wooden frames and cloth heads, in good order. Plot 14 had a figure with a modern plastic head, presumed replaced after a storm, and the figure was reported to be in order.
3. Plot 19 had no scarecrow. The plot holder reported that the figure had been removed in March to be repaired, and was stored in the shed.
4. Plot 9 was the subject of a complaint. The plot holder reported that the scarecrow had moved, though the frame had not been touched. The surveyor observed that the figure stood in the same place as before, but its feet, which are set into the soil with iron stakes, had been pulled from the ground and reset in the furrow between the second and third rows of cabbages.
5. The cabbages in that furrow were not damaged. Their roots were undisturbed. The soil under the figure's feet had been pressed flat in the pattern of a man's boots, with the heel and toe distinct.
6. The plot holder confirmed that the scarecrow had been dressed in a tweed jacket and a straw hat that belonged to her late husband, who had worked the plot for forty years. The jacket had been hung over the frame at the start of the season. The surveyor noted that the jacket was now buttoned.
7. Recommendation: the figure to be removed and the plot holder asked to plant a barrier of marigolds, which the committee considers effective against both aphids and sentimentality.
8. Observation not explained by the survey: the plot holder asked whether the figure could stay where it was, because the cabbages on that row had grown noticeably since it moved, and the committee has since received a letter from her requesting that the scarecrow be given a name.