Thoreau Manuscript, Berg Collection, "Notes on Fruits" folder, Accession Number 273-274

Thoreau Manuscript, Berg Collection, “Notes on Fruits” folder, Accession Number 273-274

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[XX] 15

[XX]     Nuts

[XX]     Oct 24-57 I get a couple of quarts of chestnuts

[XX]     at Smith’s grove, by patiently brushing the

[XX]     thick bed of leaves aside with my hand, in

[XX]     successive concentric circles (around the tree) till

[XX]     I reach the trunk. More than half were

[XX]     under one tree. I believe that I get more,

[XX]     by resolving, where they are reasonably thick, to pick

[XX]     all under one tree first. Begin at the tree &

[XX]     brush the leaves with your right hand in toward

[XX]     the stump—while your left holds the basket,

[XX]     & so go round & round it in concentric

[XX]     2

[XX]     circles, each time laying bare about 2 feet

[XX]     in width, till you get as far as the boughs

[XX]     extend. You may presume that you have got

[XX]     about all there are then. It is best to reduce

[XX]     it to a system. Of course you will shake the

[XX]     tree first, if there are any on it. The nuts

[XX]     lie commonly 2 or 3 together as they fell.

[XX]     I find my account in this long-continued

[XX]     monotonous labor of picking chestnuts, all

[XX]     the afternoon—brushing the leaves aside

[XX]     without looking up—absorbed in that & for-

[XX]     getting better things awhile. I rebound after-

[XX]     ward & between whiles, with fresher sense. It

[XX]     is as good as a journey; I seem to have been

[XX]     womewhere & done something. It is a slight

[XX]     adventure. I have been so much in the habit

[XX]     of looking for Ind. relics that my eye is

[XX]     educated to discover anything on the

[XX]     ground—as chestnuts &c It is prob. wholesomer

[XX]     to look at the ground much than at the hea-

[XX]     vens. As I go stooping & brushing the leaves

[XX]     aside by the hour, I am not thinking of .

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[XX]     16

[XX]     Nuts

[XX]     chestnuts merely—but I find myself humming

[XX]     a thought of more significance. This oc-

[XX]     cupation affords a certain broad pause &

[XX]     opportunity to start again afterward—turn

[XX]     over a new leaf

[XX]     I hear (from time to time) the dull thump of heavy

[XX]     stones (cast) against the trees from far thro’ the

[XX]     rustling wood where boys are ranging for nuts.

[XX]     57

[XX]     Nov. 9 One of the company to-day told of Geo- Melvin

[XX]     Melvin

[XX]     once, for a joke, directing Jonas to go to the

[XX]     widow Hildreth's woodlot & gather the chest-

[XX]     nuts. They were prob. both working there (at Hildreth’s)

[XX]     He accordingly took the oxen & cart & some ladders

[XX]     & another hired man & they worked all day

[XX]     & got half a bushel.

[XX]     Nov. 29’ 57 A nest in a thorn 1/2 full of partly wilted

[XX]     acorn & hazel nut shells—prob by a striped squirrel or

[XX]     else a mus-leacopus (often see them.

[XX]     July 4’ 58 Saw a chestnut tree in London NH— First & frequently

~~[XX]     July 15— See uva-ursi generally showing its down on Lafayette~~

[XX]     (XXX) in Franklin & Boscawren—or about

[XX]     43 1/2�N— It was quite common in Hollis

[XX]     Aug 24-58 Squirrels have eaten hazel nuts & p. pine cones

[XX]     for some days. — Now & of late we remember

[XX]     hazel bushes—we become aware of such a

[XX]     fruit-bearing bush— They have their term & every

[XX]     clump & hedge seems composed of them. The

[XX]     burrs begin to look red on their edges—

[XX]     Aug 29— Hazel bushes on XXX completely stript! by squirrels already—&

[XX]     the rich brown burrs are strewn on the ground beneath— What a

[XX]     What a fine brown these dried burrs have already acquired!

[XX]     not chestnut—nor yet hazel— (This along the wall)

[XX]     I fear it is already too late for me—though I find some yet quite

[XX]     green in another place. (By more frequented paths the squirrels

[XX]     have not worked yet—) Every nut that I could find left in that