Esther Buchbinder, age 10, of Peoria, Illinois, For her question:

Where can you get catnip?

This tall, fragrant plant is a member of the mint family. It can grow wherever the mint grows, which is almost everywhere. The three foot plant grows wild along many of our waysides. It has fuzzy heart shaped leaves of pale green and in summer it bears clusters of white flowers that are daintily tinted with rosy pink. Most likely you can tell the catnip plant from the minty fragrance of its leaves. If you are doubtful, just take along a friendly cat to help you to identify this wild plant: Puss has a great love for catnip. One sniff and she is rolling around in joyful ecstasy. Experts say that it acts as a sort of tonic and should be included in her diet.

Some people grow handsome clumps of catnip in the garden. Andy tried this. But the leaves were always eaten or crushed by visiting cats before they had a chance to grow tall. So he buys packages of dried catnip at a pet store. Every day or so he feeds about a spoonful of the minty leaves to his cat, Rama, who rolls in it and then eats it. Then he performs a few clownish, kittenish antics and falls asleep.