until within the last twenty-six years the firm was established in the
town of Birmingham. The need for greater accommodation for the rapidly
growing business, and a desire to secure improved conditions for the
work-people, led to the removal of the factory to a distance of about
four miles south of the city. A number of cottages erected for the
work-people in those early days became the nucleus of a great scheme
which in the last few years has expanded into the model village of
Bournville, a name taken from the neighbouring Bourn stream. Year by
year the factory grew and developed, until the green hay-fields, with
the trout stream flowing through them, became gradually covered with
buildings. To-day the factory seems like a small town in itself,
intersected by streets, and surrounded by its own railway. But the
greenness of the country clings wherever a chance is afforded, ivy and
other creepers adorning the brick walls, window boxes bright with
flowers, and trees planted here and there; for no opportunity has been
neglected of making the surroundings beautiful.

[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Bournville Cocoa Works: Office
Buildings.]

Taking train from the city, glimpses can be caught, as we near our
destination, of the pretty houses and gardens of the village, forming
a great contrast to the densely populated district of Stirchley on the
other side of the line. Stepping on to the station, we are greeted by
a whiff of the most delicious fragrance, which is quite enough of
itself to betray the whereabouts of the great factory lying beneath
us, of which from this point we have a fairly good bird's-eye view.
Down the station steps, and a few yards up the lane to the left, with
a playing field on one side, and on the other a plantation of
fir-trees almost hiding the red brick and timbered gables of the