Thoreau Manuscript, Berg Collection, "Notes on Fruits" folder, Accession Number 249-252

Thoreau Manuscript, Berg Collection, “Notes on Fruits” folder, Accession Number 249-252

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2nd RECTO TRANSCRIPT	2nd VERSO TRANSCRIPT	2nd RECTO NOTES	2nd VERSO NOTES

[1st RECTO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX]     also called Sour Gum & Black Gum 172

[XX]     Tupelo begins Sep 1

[XX]     Sep 11 ap in p. Oct 19-59 all fallen how long?

[XX]     Michaux says the N. Aquatica is "ripe toward

[XX]     the beginning off November—" holds on

[XX]     after the leaves & is food for "red-breasts."

[XX]     Sep. 7-57 what I examined

[XX]     was green— Sep 7-60 hardly yet in Hub’s grove XXX seed

than last year

[XX]     Sep 11-59 By the pool in Hubbard’s

[XX]     Grove I see Tall Tupelos all dotted

[XX]     with—, & quite full of, the now ripe (ap in p.)

[XX]     dark

[XX]     fruit—small oval purple berries 2 or 3

[XX]     together on the end of slender peduncles,

[XX]     amid the reddening leaves. This fruit is

[XX]     very acid and has a large stone; but

[XX]     I see several robins on the trees which

[XX]     appear to have been attracted by it.

[XX]     Neither the tree nor the fruit is generally

[XX]     known, & many liken the former, when small,

[XX]     to a pear,

[XX]     Sep 30-54 that behind Sam Barretts was

[XX]     (its leaves) all scarlet, had borne much

[XX]     (Gray calls it blackish, blue),

[XX]     fruit small oval blackberries, & a very

[XX]     little which was not ripe was left

[XX]     Oct 19-59 all fallen how long?

[XX]     A large tall one op RR—& 1 in Staples meadow wood

[XX] {Written vertically in upper-left margin with pencil line to topmost line of text} [XX] Put this forward

[XX] 9 ps to Sep 7—after Trillium

[01]     XXX

[02]     XXX

[03]     XXX

[04]     XXX

[05]     XXX

[06]     XXX

[07]     XXX

[08]     XXX

[09]     XXX

[10]     XXX

[11]     XXX

[12]     XXX

[13]     XXX

[14]     XXX

[15]     XXX

[16]     XXX

[17]     XXX

[18]     XXX

[19]     XXX

[20]     XXX

[21]     XXX

[22]     XXX

[23]     XXX

[24]     XXX

[25]     XXX

[26]     XXX

[27]     XXX

[28]     XXX

[29]     XXX

[30]     XXX

[31]     XXX

[32]     XXX

[33]     XXX

[34]     XXX

[35]     XXX

[36]     XXX

[37]     XXX

[38]     XXX

[39]     XXX

[40]     XXX

[41]     XXX

[42]     XXX

[43]     XXX

[44]     XXX

[45]     XXX

[46]     XXX

[47]     XXX

[48]     XXX

[49]     XXX

[50]     XXX

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[1st VERSO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX]     Sassafras Sep 1

[XX]     lasts through Sep.

[XX]     Sep 3d 56—I find one berry (on the

[XX]     hill—) dark blue in its crimson cup—

[XX]     club-shaped. It is chiefly stone, & its taste

[XX]     is like that of tar, methinks,—far from

[XX]     palatable

[XX]     Sep. 24-54 On the large sassafras trees on

[XX]     the hill I see many of the handsome red club-

[XX]     shaped pedicels left, with their empty cups

[XX]     which have held fruit & I see 1 or 2 ellipti

[XX]     cal but still green berries. All the rest

[XX]     have ripened & fallen or been gathered by birds

[XX]     already, unless they fall prematurely. Gray

[XX]     says that the berries are dark blue & ripen in Sep.

[XX]     On Hill & trees N.W of P. Dudley’s—toward Lees & behind A.

[XX]     Heywoods.

~~Peas & beans say Sep 1~~

Butter-nut Sep 1

[XX]     Sep 13-54 Many have dropt—more than wal-

[XX]     nuts.

[XX]     Ac to Loudon are ripe a fortnight earlier than

[XX]     other nuts—or in mid. of Sep.

[XX]     Sep 19-59 Alcott says his have fallen 2 or 3 weeks

[XX]     since— They must dry & lose their outer shell

Sep 28-60 still on trees & holding on all

[XX]     before cracking. September

[XX]     July 16-58 noticed the B. a common tree in Thornton

[XX]     & Campton XXX of New York about the 15" of Sep, a fortnight

[XX]     earlier than the other species of walnut.

[XX] {Written at very top of leaf} [XX] European Cranberry put here—Sep 1.

[XX] Then—Peas & Beans Sep 1

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[2nd RECTO TRANSCRIPT]

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~~[XX]     Am~~ Mt Ash Sep 1 v 69?

[XX]     Aug. 25-59 partly turned.

[XX]     Old Gerarde says it is ripe "in August"

[XX] Sweet Gale Sep 1 22

Sep 22-60 Yet XXX green, but probably it is ripe

[XX]     Dec. 14-50 On one of the islands in Loring’s

[XX]     Pond I found a low branching shrub—frozen

[XX]     into the ice, near its edge, with a fine spicy

[XX]     scent, somewhat like sweet fern, & a handsome

[XX]     imbricated bud (staminate). When I rubbed the

[XX]     dry-looking fruit in my hands, it felt greasy

[XX]     & stained them a permanent yellow which

[XX]     I could not wash out. It lasted several

[XX]     days & my fingers smelled medicinally.

[XX]     Saw sweet gale fruit begin to yellow

[XX]     Aug. 28-59

[XX]     Aug 19-51 the fruit of by Nut Meadow

[XX]     brook is now a yellowish green, & has not

[XX]     yet its greasy feel.

[XX]     Nov 19-57 Going thro’ a partly frozen

[XX]     meadow (I Hosmer’s or Wheeler’s land) Scraping

[XX]     toward the Assabet

[XX]     thro’ the sweet gale, I am pleasantly scented

[XX]     with its odoriferous fruit.

[XX]     Gerarde says of the sweet Gale "Among the

[XX]     branches come forth many other little ones

[XX]     (i.e. leaves) whereupon do grow many spokie ears

[XX]     or tufts, full of small flowers."

[XX] {Written vertically slightly above center of left margin with two pencil lines leading to line 5} [XX] Move this

[XX] forward to Sep 22

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[2nd VERSO TRANSCRIPT]

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[XX]     2) Pontederia Sep 1

[XX]     Sep 17-60 rapidly falling

[XX]     Aug 19-58 seed vessels turned down

[XX]     Now while other fruits are ripe or ripening (Sep 1) it is fall & harvest by the river side.

[XX]     Sep 13-59 The pontederia spike is now

[XX]     curving down Aug. 10-60

[XX]     generally turned downward beneath the

[XX]     water, though some others have flowers

[XX]     still at their tips.

[XX]     Sep. 17-60—shedding its seeds in a freshet

[XX]     Sep 26-59 The pontederia is fast shedding

[XX]     its seeds of late. I saw a parcel suddenly

[XX]     rise to the surface of their own accord, leaving

[XX]     the axis of the spike nearly bare. Many were

[XX]     long since bare. They float at present, but

[XX]     probably sink at last. There are a great many

[XX]     of these loose ones floating amid the pads &

[XX]     in the ~~XXX~~ wreck washed up next to the shore,

[XX]     — singular green spidery looking seeds. Prob-

[XX]     ably they are thefood of returning water fowl

[XX]     They are ripe, like the seeds of different lillies,

[XX]     at the time the fowl return from the north.

[XX]     Oct 7-59 The Pontederia seeds which I dropt

[XX]     into a pitcher of water have now mostly sunk.

[XX]     As the outside decays, they become heavier

[XX]     than water.