Thoreau Manuscript, Berg Collection, "Notes on Fruits" folder, Accession Number 236-237, 240-241

Thoreau Manuscript, Berg Collection, “Notes on Fruits” folder, Accession Number 236-237, 240-241

1st RECTO TRANSCRIPT	1st VERSO TRANSCRIPT	1st RECTO NOTES	1st VERSO NOTES
2nd RECTO TRANSCRIPT	2nd VERSO TRANSCRIPT	2nd RECTO NOTES	2nd VERSO NOTES

[1st RECTO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX] 164

[XX]     Sep 6-56 I found at Brattle boro

[XX]     in the bank of the Connecticut river—

[XX]     11/3 in. diam somewhat

[XX]     small grapes—in size & clusters like our

[XX]     (clusters 3 to 5 inch long)

[XX]     smallest—just fairly begun to be ripe—

[XX]     but they were not only thus much earlier than

[XX]     ours—but were agreeably acid & edible.

~~[XX]     The inhabitants called them~~ evidentaly distinct.

[XX]     Palumbra they call them

[XX]     Are these the V. cordifolius (?)

[XX]     Frost Grape then

[XX]     About the 10" of Nov. 56 I first

[XX]     noticed in a wood at Eagleswood N.J. long bunches

[XX]     of very small dark purple or black grapes, fallen

[XX]     on the dry leaves in the ravine E of Springs house.

[XX]     Quite a large mass of clusters remained

[XX]     hanging on the leafless vine 30 feet over-

[XX]     head there, even till I left (the 24" of Nov.)

[XX]     These grapes were much shrivelled, but they

[XX]     had very agreeable spicy acid taste, evidently

[XX]     not acquired till after the frosts. I thought

[XX]     them quite a discovery & ate many from day to

[XX]     day, swallowing the skins & stones, & recommended

[XX]     them to Spring— ~~He nev~~ who had never noticed

[XX]     them. He said that they were much like a

[XX]     certain French grape, which he had eaten

[XX]     in France. This was a true Frost Grape;

[XX]     ap. answers to V. aestivalis. (V. date if necessary)

[XX]     Torrey in N.Y. Reports, says, the V. cordifolius

[XX]     winter grape—Frost Grape—is "not uncommon

[XX]     in the vicinity of New York."

[XX]     Can the Brattleboro Grape—which begins to ripen

[XX]     so early be the same?

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[1st VERSO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX]     June 27 -56 At Naushon I saw

[XX]     a common wild grape vine running over

[XX]     a beech, which was ap. flattened out by

[XX]     it—which vine measured at 6 feet from

[XX]     the ground (~~along the truck~~) 23 inches in cir-

[XX]     cumference. It was larger below & had already

[XX]     forked. At 5 feet from the ground (along

[XX]     the vine) it divided into 3 great branches.

[XX]     It did not rise directly but with a great

[XX]     half spiral sweep, as anguish. No sight

[XX]     could be more primaeval. It was partly or

[XX]     chiefly dead. This was in the midst of the

[XX]     woods by a path side. Just beyond we

[XX]     started up 2 deer.

[XX]     XXX on grapes—blueberries &c

[XX]     Nov. 4-57 I see in a wood path some rank

[XX]     thimble berry shoots covered very thickly with a peculiar

[XX]     hoary bloom. It is only rubbed off down to the purple skin

[XX]     only in a few places by some passing hunter perchance.

[XX]     It is a very singular & delicate outer coat, surely,

[XX]     for a plant to wear. I find that I can write

[XX]     my name in it with a pointed stick, very dis-

[XX]     tinctly, each stroke however fine—

[XX]     Pursch says of "V. labrusca, "Berries black, large, of a dis-

[XX]     agreeable fox-smell, commonly called Fox-grape."

[XX]     So Beverly in his XXX of Virginia—speaks of a very large kind of

[XX]     grape which has "a rank taste when ripe, resembling the

[XX]     musk of a fox, from whence they are called fox grapes."

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[2nd RECTO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX]     Smilacina Racemosa berries beg. to be

[XX]     ripe Aug. 31—in p say Sep. 15

[XX]     notice cluster July 24

[XX]     In the latter part of Aug. & in Sep—

[XX]     we notice the dense clusters of

[XX]     sol. seal berries at the end of the stalk

[XX]     which is bent over by their weight

[XX]     It is a compound raceme of ~~XXX~~

~~[XX]     red spotted berries—~~4 or 5 inches long

[XX]     of whitish berries a little smaller than

[XX]     a pea—fineles warked or dotted with ver-

[XX]     million or bright red— This is very con-

[XX]     spicuous & handsome.

[XX]     At length in Sep. they become a clear

[XX]     & uniform semilucent red—being soft and

[XX]     ripe—& have a sweetish taste—but a large

[XX]     & hard stone. Are common Sep 27. at least

[XX]     Desmodium ~~Sep~~ Aug; 31

[XX]     D. Nudiflora in woods not ripe— V. Sep 5-60 or same in Disp. of seeds.

[XX]     Wax-work begs to be orange Aug 31

[XX]     but not open—

[XX]     2-53 Sep 20-60 yellow but not red

[XX]     By Aug. 9 I see it yellowing. By

[XX]     the 2d of Sep. it is fairly yellow on all

[XX]     hands & it is time to gather it

[XX]     Sep 23 it is not open—

[XX]     on Oct 14-60

[XX]     At length the orange shell XXX & reveals

[XX]     the red inside.. How it is stripped in hot water

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[2nd VERSO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX]     put this Oct 1st

[XX]     Corn See them topping corn about

[XX]     Sep 1st or earlier even.

[XX]     Early in Aug. (11th-52) we begin to have green

[XX]     corn.

[XX]     I remember when boiled green corn was sold

[XX]     piping-hot on a muster field in this town—

[XX]     & my father says that he remembers when

[XX]     it used to be carried about the streets of

[XX]     Boston in large baskets on the bare heads

[XX]     of negro women, & gentlemen used to stop—buy

[XX]     an ear, & eat it in the street

[XX]     About the first of Sep. they begin to top

[XX]     corn—& the stacks of stalk s set in rows

[XX]     around the fields reminds you of stacks

[XX]     of bayonets on a muster field.

[XX]     Toward the end of Sep (or 1st of OCt) they begin

[XX]     to cut up & gather in the corn—though

[XX]     some is left out even till after the mid of

[XX]     Nov. some years

[XX] Hazel Nuts beg. to be ripe by Sep 1

[XX] About the 1st of July—the burrs make a show June 29

54

[XX]     Between July 16 & 24" they are fully formed—& are

[XX]     richly XXX—significant—~~XXX agreeably~~

~~[XX]     shaggy looking fruit~~

[XX]     Loudon says—"Ac. to some, from {GREEK LETTERS} a helmet;