SEPTEMBER 47 



Grinnell, September 6, 1907. 



It seemed good to one coming from the Lake 

 Superior region to reacli again tlie land of abun- 

 dant meadowlarks. They are still numerous here 

 — stately, alert figures on the slopes of pasture 

 hills — though their song has only faint remin- 

 iscence of its spring vigor.^ The warbling vireo 

 sings in quite spirited tone occasionally, but the 

 robin's tune is rather subdued, and the catbird 

 merely mews near its summer nest in the barberry 

 hedge, decorated now by plentiful scarlet fruit. 

 The goldfinches dip chattering above the garden 

 and a hummingbird still hovers, darts, and sips 

 among the trumpet vines. 



In the fields north of the campus are pastures 

 where low, dry hills rise above the meandering 

 sloughs and a small ice-pond. Here one now finds 

 a considerable number of herbs in varied bloom — 

 on isolated stalks or in social masses according to 

 specific habit. Boneset is thick along the border 

 of the slough. In boyhood days we gathered it in 

 the autumn, to dry in the shed attic, preparatory 

 to making medicinal tea in days of ' ' spring fever. ' ' 

 We called the plant 'Hhoroughwort," and any 

 other name was a sign of plebeian training; just 

 as we challenged with '^rhubarb" the vulgar taste 

 which spoke of ''pieplant.'' Among other bloom- 

 ing plants here are asters, goldenrods, sunflowers, 



8 See Appendix, Note 4. 



