Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-04
NATURE IN AUTUMN
BY d. C. PEATTE.

I the ancient and honorable custom Of
! the cat-tail, which in modern text
books is put down as the very Lowest"
or at least most primitive, of Towering
plants after the conifers. The dande-
lion and all the cousins and sisters and
| aunts in its great family have evil
/ IDENTIFY concluded that as a means Of
| inheriting the earth seed distribution
by means of silky tufted sailing or
| gliding devices cannot be improved on.
| II you would convince yourself Of
this fact, you have only to take look
at the present-day kingdom Of the cat
tail. 1t is found all over America and
Europe; 1t ranges throughout Asia, and
Is widespread in most of the tropics In
fresh and brackish marshes.
! There are probably no places where
1t could grow that it does not grow.
This, in part, Is due to the fact that,
being a very ancient plant, it has had
time to spread about over the earth,
as the orchids, for instance, which are
a very new family, have not. But
other plants, like the redwoods and
| the cycads, have had just as much time
and have not held their own. There
must be marvellous capacities for life,
enduring vital force, elastic adaptations
to various environments, which account
! for the success of the cat-tail The
most interesting plants are not the
rare ones, but the common ones.
Raking Leaves.
! Many normal human occupations
! have been replaced by mechanical in
ventions, and often people who are
obliged to perform those manual opera
tons that machine cannot perform
feel themselves highly abused. If the
cord of the electric iron breaks, a
washerwoman Is utterly helpless
Rather than use the old-fashioned fiat
irons, she will go without the days
wages. knew boy who, unable to
obtain the family car, could not i'm
agine how he was going to travel IL
city blocks.
This Is a grumbling preface to my
theme. which Is raking Autumn leaves
am glad nobody has invented a gaso-
line raker. 1t would be one more noise
!. one more smell, one more paralysis OF
. the human arm. Even sweeping leaves
of sidewalk in the city is better than
having no leaves to sweep. love tc
see the brown etched patterns on the
! cement when wet leaves are swept
away. There the acid in the decayine
leaves has left an imprint like a sort
!, of ephemeral fossil of the vanished
Summer
He who has a lawn patch, be it ne
bigger than pocket handkerchief
where, under faultless blue skies, in the
balm of Indian Summer, or the tang o.
Autumn at its sprightliness, he may
! WELD his old, time-silvered rake upor
the rustling fallen hosts of leaves, Il
luckier, say, than the apartment
dweller for whom there is nothing left
: to do; luckier still than the man who
having the plot and the leaves, darei
] not touch them for fear of his gardener
Though leaves should be raked from
J lawns, they may well be piled arount
{ bushes. especially tender rose plants
. Do not, however. place them over bull
! gardens. The moisture retained be.
7 meath them often rots the bulbs.
] If you have a large lawn, you ma.
!, find. a place for everwintering you
, leaves. They make the finest garden
mold conceivable when thorough,
e rotted. II you have no room for lea
: pile. you will be obliged to make fire
of them, and Of all the Autumn odor
t none is so poignant as the smell o
e Summers pyre of glory drifting dow
D the streets of villages and suburbs.