Awakening Catkins 
a while and look leisurely about w T ith an eye on Jack 
Frost. It is in this early stage of temporarily arrested 
development that pussy willows are in the most serviceable 
condition for home decoration. Cut then from the 
branches and kept out of water, the fat little catkins retain 
their sleekness and characteristic color for a long time, 
and may even be used effectively in the trimming of ladies’ 
hats. 
Another catkin that is feeling the spring in the air is 
that of the alder. This shrub, which many people persist 
in confusing in their minds with the very different elder, 
is even more of a water drinker than the willow, and 
grows everywhere in sociable clumps by the meadow runs. 
Its catkins, at least the male ones, got in line early, long 
before there was any hope of the doors of the spring per¬ 
formance being open—in fact, last fall—and all through 
the winter they were patiently enduring the cold in stif¬ 
fened purple clusters on the branches. Now, under the 
genial influence of the sun’s waxing power, they are 
stretching themselves luxuriously into tassels of magenta 
and gold, and, by-and-by, like confetti throwers at the 
carnival, they will be casting prodigal showers of yellow 
pollen upon the winds. Companions with them, set close 
upon the twigs, are the staid little crimson cones, now 
gleaming in the sunlight like bits of rubies, that are to 
develop the seeds of the year. The empty cones of a year 
ago, black, lifeless and gaping now, still persist upon the 
branches and add a picturesque touch to the shrub in 
flower. 
March 20.—The wind, tired at last with blustering, 
[23] 
