Thoreau writes in his journal:
Minott tells me that once, one very dry summer, when but part of these meadows had been cut, Moore and Hosmer got the owners to agree to have them burnt over, in the expectation that it would improve the quality of the grass, and they made quite an affair of it,—had a chowder, cooked by Moore’s boys, etc.; but the consequence was that this wool-grass came in next year more than ever . . .