A Window in Arcady 
and there is a proverb to the effect that if the chickweed 
shuts up then the traveler should put on his great coat. 
The plant is reputed to be a fair substitute for spinach and 
greens, but the principal use that our people make of it 
nowadays is to take it home for a salad for Dick, the 
canary. 
Among the meagre delicacies of the winter fields is one 
in which pussy has particular interest, namely catnip. The 
hard frosts of autumn apparently kill this plant, but if we 
examine the bases of the dry stalks in winter we shall 
find, particularly if the situation is a somewhat protected 
one, that clusters of young shoots have sprung up about 
them. These grow a little during the mild spells of 
weather and are very tender and juicy, being apparently as 
grateful to the feline palate as the delicate yellow and 
white heart of a lettuce-head is to the human taste. Cats, 
however, are not singular in their liking for this aromatic 
herb, which is pleasant munching for a man, too, and 
with the old-fashioned country housewives is one of the 
most prized of “simples.” 
January 26 . —All winter long by the roadsides and in 
old fields the dry stalks of the milkweed stand, holding 
aloft their burst pods for the winds to empty. The packing 
of the seeds in these pods is a marvel of neatness. Round, 
brown and flat, they overlap one another like scales on a 
fish, and the long, silken hairs that spring in a tuft from 
the summit of each seed and have gained for the plant in 
some districts the name of wild cotton, are drawn tightly 
upward in a compact, white cone that fits snugly in the 
taper end of the pod. As the seeds are loosened by the 
[ 12 ] 
