Henry David Thoreau’s diary, 1856

Probably the coldest morning yet, our ther- mometer 6° below zero at 8 a. M.; yet there was quite a mist in the air.? The neighbors say it was 10° below zero at 7…

Snows again. About two inches have fallen in the night, but it turns to a fine mist. It was a damp snow. P. M. — To Hill. The snow turned to a fine mist or…

One of the coldest mornings. Thermometer — 9°, say some. P. M. — Up river to Hubbard’s Bridge. It has been trying to snow all day, but has not suc- ceeded; as if it…

High wind and howling and driving snow- storm all night, now much drifted. There is a great drift in the front entry and at the crack of every door and on the…

At breakfast time the thermometer stood at -12°. Earlier it was probably much lower. Smith’s was at —24° early this morning. The latches are white with frost at…

P. M. —To Walden. The snow is about a foot, or probably a little more, deep on a level, and considerably drifted, but on the pond it is not more than five inches…

Clear, cold morning. Smith’s thermometer — 16°; ours — 14° at breakfast time, — 6° at 9 A. Mm. 3 p. M. — To Beck Stow’s.. The thermometer at + 2°. When I return at…

‘The weather has considerably moderated; — 2° at breakfast time (it was — 8° at seven last evening); but this has been the coldest night probably. You lie with your…

P. M. — To Walden. Cold as the weather has been for some days, it [is]

Moderating, though at zero at 9 a. M. P. M. — To Andromeda Swamps, measuring snow. It is a fortnight since we had about a foot of snowfall on two or three inches…

Sunrise. — A heavy lodging snow, almost rain, has been falling —how long? —coming from the eastward. The weather comparatively warm, but windy. It will probably…

Sunrise. — Snows again. I think that you can best tell from what side the storm came by ob- serving on which side of the trees the snow is plastered. The crows are…

A fine, clear winter day. P. M.— To Hemlocks on the crust, slumping in every now and then. A bright day, not cold. I can comfortably walk without gloves, yet my…

8 a. M. — Down railroad, measuring snow, having had one bright day since the last flake fell; but, as there was a crust which would bear yesterday ® (as to-day), it…

Henry Shattuck tells me that the quails come almost every day and get some saba beans within two or three rods of his house, — some which he neg- lected to gather.…

J. B. Moore says that he has caught twenty pounds of pickerel in Walden in one winter, etc., and had had nearly as good luck five or six times the same winter…

Another bright winter day. P. M.— To river to get some water asclepias to see what birds’ nests are made of. The only open place in the river between Hunt’s Bridge…

In my experience I have found nothing so truly impoverishing as what is called wealth, 7. ¢. the command of greater means than you had before pos- sessed, though…

Four men, cutting at once, began to fell the big elm (vide 19th) at 10 a. M., went to dinner at 12, and got through at 2.30 p. m. They used a block and tackle with…

P. M. — To Walden. The Walden road is nearly full of snow still, to the top of the wall on the north side, though there has been no snow falling since the 14th. The…

Brown is filling his ice-house. The clear ice is only from one and a half to four inches thick; all the rest, or nearly a foot, is snow ice, formed by the snow…

A journal is a record of experiences and growth, not a preserve of things well done or said. I am occasionally reminded of a statement which I have made in…

P. M. — Up river. The hardest day to bear that we have had, for, be- side being 5° at noon and at 4 p. M., there is a strong northwest wind. It is worse than when…

When I took the ether my consciousness amounted to this: I put my finger on myself in order to keep the place, otherwise I should never have returned to this world.…

I have just sawed a wheel an inch and three quarters thick off the end of (apparently) a stick of red oak in my pile. I count twenty-nine rings, and about the same…

Snowed all day, about two inches falling. They say it snowed about the same all yesterday in New York. Cleared up at night.

P. M.— Measured the snow in the same places measured the 16th and 23d, having had, except yesterday, fair weather and no thaw.’ Average of both sides. West of…

8 a. M. — It has just begun to snow, — those little round dry pellets like shot. George Minott says that he was standing with Bow- ers (?) and Joe Barrett near Dr.…

P. M. — Up North Branch. There are a few inches of light snow on top of the little, hard and crusted, that I walked on here last, above the snow ice. The old tracks…

Our kitten Min, two-thirds grown, was playing with Sophia’s broom this morning, as she was sweeping the parlor, when she suddenly went into a fit, dashed round the…

Snowed again last night, perhaps an inch, erasing the old tracks and giving us a blank page again, restoring the purity of nature. It may be even a trifle deeper…

Analyzed the crow blackbird’s nest from which I took an egg last summer, eight or ten feet up a white maple by river, opposite Island. Large, of an irregular form,…

P. M. — To Walden. I go to walk at 3 p. M., thermometer 18°. It has been about this (and 22°) at this hour for a week or two. All the light snow, some five inches…

The weatheris still clear, cold, and unrelenting. I have walked much on the river this winter, but, ever since it froze over, it has been on a snow-clad river, or…

P. M. — To Walden. The down is just peeping out from some of the aspen buds. Cut a cake of ice out of the middle of Walden, within three rods of where I cut on the…

Began to snow at 8 A. M.; turned to rain at noon, and cleared off, or rather ceased raining, at night, with some glaze on the trees. This the first thawing, though…

9 A. M.— To Fair Haven Pond. A clear and a pleasanter and warmer day than we have had for a long time. ‘The snow begins (at noon) to soften somewhat in the road.…

How much the northwest wind prevails in the winter! Almost all our storms come from that quarter, and the ridges of snow-drifts run that way. If the In- dians…

Speaking about the weather and the fish- ing with E. and I. Garfield on the 8th, I was amused to hear these two young farmers suddenly disputing as to whether the…

P. M. — To Fair Haven Pond by river. Israel Rice says that he does not know that he can remember a winter when we had as much snow as we have had this winter. Eb.…

Thawed all day yesterday and rained some- what last night; clearing off this morning. Heard the eaves drop all night. The thermometer at 8.30 a. M., 42°. The snow…

Grew cold again last night, with high wind. The wind began about midday. I think a high wind commonly follows rain or a thaw in winter. The ther- mometer at 8.30 A.…

Still colder this morning, — 7° at 8.30 a. M. P. M.— To Walden. ~ I find that a great many pine-needles, both white and pitch, of *54 still hold on, bristling…

P. M. — To Walden. It has been trying to snow for two days. About one inch fell last night, but it clears up at noon, and sun comes out very warm and bright. Wild…

Some three or four inches of snow fallen in the night and now blowing. At noon begins to snow again, as well as blow. Several more inches fall. Feb. 18. Yesterday’s…

Measure snow again, on account of what fell on 17th. West of railroad, 15+ +2; east of railroad, 124-+2; average of both, 14+2=16; Trillium Wood, 183 +2=20$. The…

P. M. — To Assabet stone bridge and home on river. It is a pleasant and warm afternoon, and the snow is melting. Yet the river is still perfectly closed (as it has…

Dr. Jarvis tells me that he thinks there was as much snow as this in 35, when he lived in the Parkman house and drove in his sleigh from November 23d to March 30th…

P. M.— To Walden and Fair Haven. The only bare ground is the railroad track, where the snow was thin. The crust still bears, and [I] left the railroad at Andromeda…

P. M. — To Hubbard’s Close. I see at bottom of the mill brook, below Emerson’s, two dead frogs. The brook has part way yet a snowy bridge over it. Were they left by…

Wednesday. P. M. — Up Assabet. Am surprised to see how the ice lasts on the river. It but just begins to be open for a foot or two at Mer- rick’s, and you see the…

P. M.— To Nut Meadow. Mother says that the cat lay on her bread one night and caused it to rise finely all around her. T go on the crust which we have had since the…

Minott told me this afternoon of his catch- ing a pickerel in the Mill Brook once, —before the pond was drawn off, when the brook had four or five times as much…

9 a. M.— To Flint’s Pond via Walden, by railroad and the crust. | I hear the hens cackle as not before for many months. Are they not now beginning to lay? The…

Has snowed three or four inches — very damp snow — in the night; stops about 9 a. m. This will probably help carry off the old snow, so solid and deep. P. M. —…

'To Cambridge.

To Carlisle, surveying. I had two friends. The one offered me friendship on such terms that 1 could not accept it, without a sense of degradation. He would not meet…

Snowed an inch or two in the night. Went to Carlisle, surveying. It is very hard turning out, there is so much snow in the road. Your horse springs and flounders in…

P. M. — Up Assabet. The snow is softening. Methinks the lichens are a little greener for it. A thaw comes, and then the birches, which were gray on their white…

P. M.— Measured snow on account of snow which fell 2d and 4th. West of railroad, 16+; east of railroad, 16; average, say 16+; Trillium Wood, 21. Probably quite as…

Thermometer at 2 Pp. Mm. 15°, sixteen inches of snow on a level in open fields, hard and dry, ice in Flint’s Pond two feet thick, and the aspect of the earth is…

Thermometer at 7 a. m. 6° below zero. Dr. Bartlett’s, between 6.30 and 7 A. M., was at— 13°; Smith’s at— 13° or — 14°, at 6 a. M. P. M. — Up river to Hubbard…

Thermometer at 7 a. m. 6°, yet, the fire going out, Sophia’s plants are frozen again. Dr. Bart- lett’s was — 4°. When it was proposed to me to go abroad, rub off…

'The last four cold days have closed the river again against Merrick’s, and probably the few other small places which may have opened in the town, at the mouth of…

P. M. — To Flint’s Pond.

Friday. Quite warm. Thermometer 46°. 3 p. mM. — Up Assabet. The ice formed the fore part of this week, as that at Merrick’s noticed on the 12th, and heard of else-…

Put a spout in the red maple of yesterday, and hung a pail beneath to catch the sap. Mr. Chase (of the Town School), who has lived a hundred miles distant in New…

7 a. M. — The sap of that red maple has not begun to flow yet. The few spoonfuls in the pail and in the hole are frozen. These few rather warmer days have made a…

Monday. Snow going off very gradually under the sun alone. Going begins to be bad; horses slump; hard turning out. See where the cattle, which have stepped a few…

P. M. — Up river. It is still quite tight at Hubbard’s Bath Bend and at Clamshell, though I hesitate a little to cross at these places. ‘There are dark spots in the…

P. M. — To Walden. Measured the snow again. West of railroad, 15; east of railroad, 114; average, 132; Trillium Woods, 163. The last measurement was on the 7th,…

It snowed three or four inches of damp snow last afternoon and night, now thickly adhering to the twigs and branches. Probably it will soon melt and help carry off…

George Brooks, of the North Quarter, tells me that he went a-fishing at Nagog Pond on the 18th and found the ice from thirty to thirty-seven inches thick (the…

Saturday. P. M.—To white maples and up Assabet. The ice of the river is very rapidly softening, still concealed by snow, the upper part becoming homo- geneous with…

Monday. Very pleasant day. Ther- mometer 48° at noon. 9 a. M.—Start to get two quarts of white maple sap and home at 11.30. One F. hyemalis in yard. Spend the…

P. M.— To Walden. The willow and aspen catkins have pushed out con- siderably since the Ist of February in warm places. I have frequently seen the sap of maples…

'To Cambridge. I hear that Humphrey Buttrick found a whole covey of quails dead.* At Philadelphia, a month or two since, they offered a reward for live ones, more…

Uncle Charles died this morning, about midnight, aged seventy-six. | The frost is now entirely out in some parts of the New Burying-Ground, the sexton tells me, —…

Uncle Charles buried. He was born in February, 1780, the winter of the Great Snow, and he dies in the winter of another great snow, —a life bounded by great snows.…

Another cold day. Scarcely melts at all. Water skimmed over in chamber, with fire.

P. M. — To Walden and Fair Haven. Still cold and blustering. I come out to see the sand and subsoil in the Deep Cut, as I would to see a spring flower, some redness…

P. M.— To Peter’s via Winter Street [ ? ]. I see the scarlet tops of white maples nearly a mile off, down the river, the lusty shoots of last year. Those of the red…

P. M. — Down railroad, measuring snow, and to Fair Haven Hill.

8 a. m.— To Lee’s Cliff via railroad, An- dromeda Ponds, and Well Meadow. I go early, while the crust is hard. I hear a few song sparrows tinkle on the alders by…

When I awoke this morning I heard the almost forgotten sound of rain on the roof. I think there has not been any of any consequence since Christ- mas Day. Looking…

P. M. — To Clamshell, ete. The alder scales south of the railroad, beyond the bridge, are loosened. This corresponds to the opening (not merely expansion showing…

'The April weather still continues. It looks repeatedly as if the sun would shine, and it rains five minutes after. I look out to see how much the river has risen.…

7 a. mM.— To Willow ' Bay. The meadow has frozen over, skimmed over in the night. The ducks must have had a cold night of it. I thought [I] heard white-bellied…

1». mM. — To boat at Cardinal Shore, and thence to Well Meadow and back to port. Another very pleasant and warm day. The white- bellied swallows have paid us…

Thursday. Fast-Day. — Some fields are dried sufficiently for the games of ball with which this season iscommonly ushered in. Lassociate this day, when I can…

8.30 a.m. — To Tarbell’s to get black and canoe birch sap. Going up the railroad, I see a male and female rusty grackle alight on an oak near me, the latter appar-…

There is still a little snow ice on the north side of our house, two feet broad, a relic of the 25th of December. This is all there is on our premises. According to…

Monday. A raw, overcast morning. 8 a. M.— Up Assabet. See one striped squirrel chasing another round and round the Island, with a faint squeak from time to time and…

6.30 a. mM. — To Hill. It is warmer and quite still; somewhat cloudy in the east. The water quite smooth, — April smooth waters. I hear very distinctly Barrett’s…

I have not seen a tree sparrow, I think, since December. 5.30 a. M. — To Pinxter Swamp over Hill. A little sunshine at the rising. 1, standing by the river, see it…

Was awakened in the night by a thunder and lightning shower and hail-storm — the old familiar burst and rumble, as if it had been rumbling somewhere else ever since…

P. M. — To Lee’s Cliff by boat. A strong northwest wind. The waves were highest off Hubbard’s second grove, where they had acquired their greatest impetus and felt…

Was awakened in the night to a strain of music dying away, — passing travellers singing. My being was so expanded and infinitely and divinely related for a brief…

Rain, rain, rain, — a northeast storm. I see that it is raising the river somewhat again. Some little islets which had appeared on the meadow north- west of Dodd’s…

P. M.— Up Assabet to white cedars. The river risen again, on account of the rain of the last three days, to nearly as high as on the 11th. I can just get over…

A rain-threatening April day. Sprinkles a little in the forenoon. P. M. — To mayflower. The yellow willow peels fairly, probably for several days. Its buds are…

Minott tells me of David Wheeler of the Virginia Road, who used to keep an account of the comings and goings, etc., of animals. He was one of the few who knew [how]…

Worm-piles about the door-step this morn- ing; how long? The white cedar gathered the 23d does not shed pollen in house till to-day, and I doubt if it will in swamp…

P. M.— Up Assabet. I find none of Monroe’s larch buds shedding pollen, but the anthers look crimson and yellow, and the female flowers are now fully expanded and…

Surveying the Tommy Wheeler farm.? 1 | believe it was this morning there was quite a fog. Again, as so many times, I [am] reminded of the advantage to the poet, and…

Was awakened early this morning by thunder and some rain, — the second thunder-shower of the season, — but it proved a fair day. At mid- forenoon saw a fish hawk…

Surveying the Tommy Wheeler farm. A fine morning. I hear the first brown thrasher sing- ing within three or four rods of me on the shrubby hill- side in front of…

6 e.m.— To Hill. I judge that the larch blossomed when the anthers began to be loose and dry and yellow on their edges. Say then the 28th. The water on the meadows…

The tea lee of the yellow-rump warbler ‘ in the street, at the end of a cool, rainy day.

Another cool, rainy day. A staminate balm- of-Gilead poplar by Peter’s path. Many of the catkins fallen and effete in the rain, but many anthers still red and…

P. M.— To Cedar Swamp via Assabet. Among others, I see republican swallows flying over river at Island. Again I see, as on the 30th of April, swallows flying low…

To Clamshell by river. 2 Our earliest currant out. Oat spawn showing little pollywogs (?) in meadow water. The horse-chestnut and mountain-ash leafing. Knawel out…

Wednesday. Fresh easterly wind. 2 p. M. — To bear-berry on Major Heywood road. In Deacon Hosmer’s barn meadows, hear the don’t don’t of a bullfrog. In the first…

The third day of rain. The river has again gone over the meadows, which were almost bare. P. M. — To Walden in rain. R. Rice speaks of having seen myriads of eels…

Rains still. I noticed the other day that the stump of the large oak at Clamshell Hill, cut down fifteen years ago or more, was quite rotten, while the trunk which…

A glorious day. P. M. — Walked round by Dennis’s and Hollowell place with Alcott. It is suddenly very warm. A washing day, with a slight haze accompanying the…

Hear a warbling vireo. Dandelions by road- side; probably several days in some places. P. M. — Up river to Kalmia glauca Swamp. In the swallows’ holes behind…

Air full of golden robins. Their loud clear note betrays them as soon as they arrive. Yesterday and to-day I see half a dozen tortoises on a rail, — their first…

A fog this morning. Our peach out. P. M. — To beeches. As I sat by the Riordan crossing, thought it was the tanager I heard? I think now, only because it is so…

Rainy day.

Rain still or lowering. P. M.— To my boat at Cardinal Shore, thence to Lee’s Cliff. Kingbird. The beech twigs I gathered the 15th show anthers to-day in chamber; so…

Ed. Emerson says he saw at Medford yes- terday many ground-birds’ nests and eggs under apple trees. R. W. E.’s black currant! (which the wild Rzbes floridum is said…

‘Thick fog in the morning, which lasted late in the forenoon and left behind it rainy clouds for the afternoon. P. M. — To Cedar Swamp. Landed at Island Neck, and…

Fir-balsam (ours in grove) apparently two or three days, for it [is] almost entirely effete; cones white, one inch long nearly. Was awaked and put into sounder…

Wednesday. P. M. — To Saw Mill Brook. Chelidonium. Rubus triflorus abundantly out at the Saw Mill Brook; how long? A robin’s nest without mud, on a young white oak…

P. M.—To Viola Muhlenbergii, which is abundantly out; how long? A small pale-blue flower growing in dense bunches, but in spots a little drier than the V. cucullata…

P. M. —'To Heywood Spring. Sorrel well open on west side of railroad causeway against H. Wheeler’s land. Noticed the earliest willow catkins turned to masses of…

Pratt gave me the wing of a sparrow (?) hawk which he shot some months ago. He was coming from his house to his shop early in the morning when he saw this small…

10 a.m.—To Fair Haven Pond with Blake and Brown. I found five arrowheads at Clamshell Hill. Saw, just before, on the flat meadow on the right, feeding on the edge…

To Kalmia Swamp with Sanborn. Fringilla melodia’s nest in midst of swamp, with four eggs, made partly of usnea; two stories, 2. ¢. upon an old nest, elevated one…

Rainy. To Painted-Cup Meadow. Potentilla argentea, maybe several days. T'rifoliwm pratense. A seringo or yellow-browed (? ?) sparrow’s nest about | ten or twelve…

P. M. — Ride to Painted-Cup Meadow. Two Arethusa bulbosa at Hubbard’s Close apparently a day or two. Golden senecio there, a day or two, at least. White clover.…

P. M. — To Linnza Wood-lot. Apparently this flower does not bloom there this year.! The lady’s-sipper in pitch pine wood-side near J. Hosmer’s Desert, probably…

P. M. — To Clintonia Swamp (Hubbard’s) Grove. A ground-bird’s nest (melodia or graminea?), with six of those oblong narrow gray [eggs] speckled with much brown at…

Horse-radish in yard, to-morrow. Picked up an entire sternothzrus shell yesterday, without scales. In the upper shell there appear to be six small segments of shell…

Carum, 2. e. caraway, in garden. Saw most hummingbirds when cherries were in bloom, — on them. Pp. M. — With R. W. E. to Perez Blood’s auction. Telescope sold for…

Tuesday. Surveying for John Hosmer be- yond pail-factory. Hosmer says that seedling white birches do not grow larger than your arm, but cut them down and they…

Surveying for J. Hosmer. Very warm. While running a line on the west edge o. Loring’s Pond, south of the brook, found, on a hummock in the open swamp, in the midst…

Thursday. P. M.— To Indian Ditch. Achillea Miullefolium. Black cherry, apparently yesterday. ‘The Muscicapa Coopertsings pe pe pe’, sit- ting on the top of a pine,…

P. M.— To Andromeda Ponds. Cold mizzling weather. In the large circular hole or cellar at the turntable on the railroad, which they are repairing, I see a star-…

We have had six days either rain-threatening or rainy, the last two somewhat rainy or mizzling. P. M. — To Cedar Swamp. Pulled up a yellow lily root, four feet long…

8 a. M. — Getting lily pads opposite Bad- ger’s. Already the pads are much eaten before they are grown, and underneath, on the under side of almost every one, are…

P. M.— To Flint’s Pond.

P. M.— To Conantum on foot. Sophia has sent me, in a letter from Worcester, part of an orchis in bloom, apparently Platanthera Hooker (?), or smaller round-leafed…

Friday. To Worcester.

Walk to Hermitage Woods with Sophia and aunts. Uvularia perfoliata very common there; now out of bloom. Rhamnus cathartica, common buck- thorn, naturalized in those…

Mrs. Brown reads a letter from John Downs in Philadelphia to Mr. Brown, in which he re- members his early youth in Shrewsbury and the pout accompanied by her young.…

Saw at the Natural History Rooms a shell labelled Haltotis splendens, apparently same with mine from Ricketson’s son, with holes and green reflections. To Purgatory…

Go to Blake’s. Indigo-bird on his trees. A. M. — Ride with him and Brown and Sophia round a part of Quinsigamond Pond into Shrewsbury. The southerly end of the pond…

Hale says the tiarella grows here, and showed it me pressed; also Kalmia glauca formerly, hobble-bush still, and yellow lady’s-slipper near the Quarry.

Looked at a collection of the rarer plants made by Higginson and placed at the Natural History Rooms. Among which noticed: — Ranunculus Purshu varieties aand f,…

Friday. A. M.—'To Baker Farm with Ricketson. A very hot day. Two Sternotherus odoratus by heap in Sanborn’s garden, one making a hole for its eggs, the rear of its…

P. M. — To Walden. Much pine pollen is washed up on the northwest side of the pond. Must it not have come from pines at a dis- tance? Very hot day, as was…

Sunday. P. M. — To Walden. Ricketson says that they say at New Bedford that the song sparrow says, Maids, maids, maids, — hang on your…

To New Bedford with Ricketson. In R.’s mowing, apparently lucerne, out some days. His son Walton showed me one of four perfectly white eggs taken from a hole in an…

To Sassacowen Pond and to Long Pond. Common yellow thistle abundant about R.’s; open a good while. Maryland yellow-throats very common in bushes behind his house;…

An abundance of the handsome corn- cockle (Lychnis), apparently in prime, in midst of a rye-field, together with morning-glories by the Acushnet shore. Black-grass…

Thursday. In Loudon’s “ Encyclopedia of Agriculture” far (of the Romans) is translated Indian corn or zea! . According to Audubon’s and Wilson’s plates, the…

P. M. — Went with R. and his boys in the Steamer Eagle’s Wing, with a crowd and band of music, to the northeast end of Naushon, “ Woods Hole,” some fifteen miles…

Lamium amplexicaule still out behind R.:’s shanty. I picked up two arrowheads amid oyster and clam shells by a rock at the head of the creek opposite R.’s. One was…

Sunday. P. M.— Bathed in the creek, which swarms with terrapins, as the boys called them. I find no account of them in Storer!! They put their heads out and floated…

P. M. — Paddled on the Acushnet. Passed through some schools of fishes which were rip- pling the surface about us in midstream. The back fins, very long and sharp,…

Return to Concord. Looked at the birds in the Natural History Rooms in Boston.. Observed no white spots on the sparrow hawk’s wing, or on the pigeon or…

P. M.— To Assabet River. In the main stream, at the Rock, I am surprised to see flags and pads, laying the foundation of an islet in the middle, where I had thought…

A. M.— To Loring’s Pond. Pink-colored yarrow. Epilobium coloratum, a day or more. Young partridges (with the old bird), as big as robins, make haste into the woods…

P. M.— To Assabet Bath. Campanula aparinoides, roadside opposite centaurea, several days. Early low blueberries ripe. Crossed the river at bath place. On the sandy…

3 p. M.— To Baker Farm by boat. River down to lower side of long rock. When I landed on Hosmer flat shore, started a large water adder, apparently running on the…

Yesterday a heavy rain. A. M. — To Laurel Glen. Chenopodium album, by railroad. Succory a week or more, by railroad causeway. Stachys aspera well out two or three…

A. M.— To Tarbell Swamp Hill all day with W. E. C. Landed at path end, Great Meadows. No haying there yet. In the now isolated ditches, etc., there [are] thousands…

P. M.— Down Turnpike to Red Lily Meadow. Hear the plaintive note of young bluebirds, a reviv- ing and gleaming of their blue ray. In Moore’s meadow by Turnpike, see…

P. M.— To Corner Spring.

P. M.— To Muhlenbergii Brook. Anthony Wright found a lark’s nest with fresh eggs on the 12th in E. Hubbard’s meadow by ash tree, — two nests, probably one a second…

P. M. — To Hubbard’s Close and Walden.

Sium out not long. I see many young shin- ers (?) * (they have the longitudinal bar), one to two and a half inches long, and young breams two or three inches long…

Found a great many insects in white lilies which opened in pan this forenoon, which had never opened before. What regularand handsome petals! regu- larly concave…

P. M.—To Wheeler meadow to look at willows. Again scare up a woodcock, apparently seated or sheltered in shadow of ferns in the meadow on the cool mud in the hot…

P. M.-— Marlborough Road via railroad and Dugan wood-lot.

P. M. — Up Assabet. Button-bush, apparently two or three days. I suspect that those very variously formed leaves in and about woods which come to naught — like the…

P. M.— To A. Wheeler’s grape meadow. Mimulus, not long. Hypericum corymbosum, a day or two. Rusty cotton-grass, how long? The small hypericums are open only in the…

9 a. mM. — Up river for Nuphar Kalmiana with Russell. Pasture thistle, not long. Hypericum Sandie not long, or perhaps some days. Antennaria margaritacea.…

P. M.— To Flint’s Pond. Solidago stricta,’ Ingraham Path, well out, some days. Chimaphila maculata, three flowers, apparently but few days, while the wmbellata is…

Friday. A. M.— Up river to see hyperi- cums out. Eycopus Virginicus, with its runners, perhaps some days, in Hosmer Flat Meadow. Whorled utricularia very abundantly…

Saturday. 5 a. mM.— Up Assabet. The sun’s disk is seen round and red for a long distance above the horizon, through the thick but cloud- less atmosphere,…

Lobelia cardinalis, three or four days, with similar white glands (?) on edges of leaves as in E. spicata. Why is not this noticed? Cornus sericea about done. As I…

At 1.30 a thunder-shower, which was much needed, the corn having rolled and trees suf- fered. 3.30 p. M. — To Climbing Fern. | Virgin’s-bower, apparently two or…

Rhexia. Probably would be earlier if not mowed down. What I have called Hzeracium Gronovii, with three cauline leaves and without veins, has achenia like H.…

P.M. — To Rudbeckia laciniata via Assabet. Amaranthus hybridus and albus, both some days at: least; first apparently longest. This is a perfect dog-day. The…

Thursday. P.M. —'To Decodon Pond. Erigeron Canadensis, some time. Alisma mostly gone to seed. Thoroughwort, several days. Penthorum, a good while. Trichostema has…

To Ludwigia spherocarpa. Burdock, several days at least. Erechthites, apparently two or three days, by Peter’s Path, end of Cemetery, the middle flowers first.…

P. M.— To Hill. A green bittern comes, noiselessly flapping, with stealthy and inquisitive looking to this side the stream and then that, thirty feet above the…

Sunday. P. M. — To Lee’s Cliff by river. Landing at flat shore. The sium and sarothra ap- parently now in prime. The central umbel of the sium going or gone to…

P. M.— Carried party a-berrying to Co- nantum in boat. Lespedeza violacea, perhaps the largest-leafed variety, leafets one inch by one third inch, petioled, well…

A. M.—On river. Mikania a day or two. Polygonum amphibium in water, slightly hairy, well out. Polygonum orientale, how long? P.M.—To house-leek via Assabet Bath.…

Copious and continuous rain in the night, deluging, soaking rain, with thunder and lightning, beating down the crops; and this morning it is cooler and clearer and…

Hemp, perhaps a week. Heard this forenoon what I thought at first to be chil- dren playing on pumpkin stems in the next yard, but it turned out to be the new…

Rain, lightning, and thunder all day long in torrents. The ground was already saturated on the night of the 5th, and now it fills all gutters and low grounds. No…

Saturday. Notwithstanding the very copious rain, with lightning, on the night of August 5th and the deluge which fell yesterday, raising the river still higher, it…

Sunday. The weather is fair and clear at last. The dog-days over at present, which have lasted since July 30th. P. M.— To Fair Haven Hill and Walden. Fragrant…

This morning the river is an inch and a half higher, or within eight inches of the top of Hoar’s wall. The other evening, returning down the river, I think I…

11 a. m.— To Hill. The Hypericum mutilum is well out at this hour. The river is now at a standstill, some three feet above its usual level. The pickerel-weed is all…

P. M. —'To Conantum. Beck says of the small circeea (C. alpina), “Many botanists consider this a mere variety of the preceding.” I am not sure but it is more deeply…

P. M. — To Flint’s Pond via Saw Mill Brook. Aster Tradescanti, apparently a day or two. Hypo- pitys, just beyond the last large (two-stemmed) chestnut at Saw Mill…

Friday. P. M.— To Minot Pratt’s.

8 a. mM. — To Cassia Field. Chenopodium hybridum, a tall rank weed, five feet at least, dark-green, with a heavy (poisonous?) odor compared to that of stramonium;…

P. M.— Walked with Minot Pratt be- hind his house.

P. M.— To Beck Stow’s. Now, perhaps, get thoroughwort. The lecheas in the Great Fields are now turning red, especially the fine one. As I go along the hillsides in…

PM. — To Fair Haven Hill. Dog-day weather as for clouds, but less smoky than before the rains of ten days ago. I see Hyperi- cum Canadense and mutilum abundantly…

Rain all night and to-day, making it a little chilly. Though I sit with open window, I should think it uncomfortably cool with it closed. Some must have a little…

Rains still all day, and wind rises, and shakes off much fruit and beats down the corn. The prevailing solidagos now are, Ist, stricta (the upland * and also meadow…

Fair weather at last. P. M. — Up Assabet. Owing to the rain of the 8th and before, two days and two nights, the river rose to within six inches of the top of Hoar’s…

P. M.— To Walden. I see a bed of Antennaria margaritacea, now in its prime, by the railroad, and very handsome. It has fallen outward on all sides ray-wise, and…

3 p. mM. — Up river to Clamshell. Polygonum tenue abundant and in bloom, on side of Money-Diggers’ Hill, especially at south base, near apple tree. The choke-cherry…

P. M.— To Hill by boat. Silvery cinquefoil now begins to show itself com- monly again. Perhaps it is owing to the rain, spring- like, which we have in August. I…

Tuesday. More wind and quite cold this morning, but very bright and sparkling, autumn-like air, reminding of frosts to be apprehended,’ also tempt- ing abroad to…

P. M.— To Clintonia Swamp and Car- dinal Ditch. Unusually cold last night. Goodyera pubescens, rattlesnake-plantain, is appar- ently a little past its prime. It is…

First watermelon. P. M. — To tortoise eggs, Marlborough road. Potentilla Norvegica again. I go over linnea sprout- lands. The panicled cornel berries are whitening,…

Heavy rain in the night and this forenoon. P. M.— To J. Farmer’s by river. The Helwanthus decapetalus, apparently a variety, with eight petals, about three feet…

Rain again in the night, as well as most of yesterday, raising the river a second time. They say there has not been such a year as this for more than half a…

Sunday. P. M.— To Hubbard Bath Swamp by boat. There sits one by the shore who wishes to go with me, but I cannot think of it. I must be fancy-free. There is no such…

P. M. — With R. W. E. to Saw Mill and Solidago odora. He has just had four of his fir trees next his house cut, they shaded his windows so. They were set out by…

P. M. —'To Painted-Cup Meadow. Clear bright days of late, with a peculiar sheen on the leaves, — light reflected from the surface of each one, for they are grown…

P. M. — To Hubbard’s Swamp for Vibur- num nudum berries. The river smooth, though full, with the autumn sheen on it, as on the leaves. I see painted tortoises with…

P. M. — To Miles Swamp, Conantum. What are those small yellow birds with two white bars on wings, about the oak at Hubbard’s Grove? Aralia racemosa berries just…

Friday. To Brattleboro, Vt. Will not the prime of goldenrods and asters be just before the first severe frosts ? | As I ride along in the cars, I think that the…

At Brattleboro. Mr. Charles C. (?) Frost showed me a printed list of the flowers of B., furnished by him to a newspaper in B. some years since. He says he finds…

Sunday. At Brattleboro, Vt. a. M.— Climbed the hill behind Mr. Addison Brown’s. The leaves of the Tvarella cordifolia very abundant in the woods, but hardly…

Brattleboro. — Rains. Frost gives me an aster which he thinks A. concinnus of Wood; grows in woods and yet longer leaved. P. M.— Clearing up. I went a-botanizing by…

Tuesday. 8 a. m.— Ascend the Chester- field Mountain with Miss Frances and Miss Mary Brown. The Connecticut is about twenty rods wide between Brattleboro and…

10.30 a. m. — Took the cars to Bellows Falls, through Dummerston, Putney, and Westminster. Looked at the falls and rocks. River higher than usual at this season,…

P. M.— Walked over what Alcott calls Farm Hill, east of his house. Erigeron annuus, four feet high, by roadside; also Ranunculus Pennsylvanicus, or bristly…

Return to Concord.

Saturday. At Concord. — After all, I am struck by the greater luxuriance of the same species of plants here than up-country, though our soil is considered leaner.…

P. M.— To Hubbard’s Close and Car- dinal Ditch. Now for the Aster Tradescanti along low roads, like the Turnpike, swarming with butterflies and bees. Some of them…

Monday. Sophia says, bringing company into my sanctum, by way of apology, that I regard the dust on my furniture like the bloom on fruits, not to be swept off.…

P. M.— To Harris’s Mill, Acton, with Father. Aster levis apparently in prime; very handsome its long, slanting, broad-topped wands by the roadside, even in dry…

P. M.—By boat to Conantum, barberrying. Diplopappus linarwfolvus in prime. River gone down more than I expected after the great rise, to within some eighteen inches…

Am surprised to find the Polygonum Pennsylvanicum abundant, by the roadside near the bank. First saw it the other day at Brattleboro. This makes, as I reckon,…

Melvin says that there are many teal about the river now. Rain in afternoon. Rain again in the night, hard.

P. M. — To Cliffs. Asclepias Cornutt discounting. The seeded para- chutes which I release soon come to earth, but prob- ably if they waited for a stronger wind to…

A rainy day. Tried some pennyroyal tea, but found it too medicinal for my taste. Yet I collect these herbs, biding the time when their use shall be discovered.

Rainy day.

P. M.— To Saw Mill Brook. Not a sign of an artichoke flower yet below Moore’s! May they not be earlier elsewhere ? At brook, cohush and arum berries still fresh,…

The river has risen again considerably (this I believe the fourth time), owing to the late copious rains. This before the farmers have succeeded in their late…

The bluebird family revisit their box and warble as in spring. P. M. — To Clamshell by boat. Solidago speciosa not quite out!! Viburnum nudum berries are soon gone.…

P. M.—To old mill-site behind Pon- kawtasset.

P. M. — To Grape Cliff. The pea-vine fruit is partly ripe, little black-dotted beans, about three in a pod. I can hardly clamber along the grape cliff now with- out…

Cattle-Show. An overcast, mizzling, and rainy day. Minott tells of a General Hull, who lived some- where in this county, who, he remembers, called out the whole…

Very heavy rain in the night; cooler now. P. M. — To Walden. Examined an Asclepias Cornutt pod, already opening by the wall. As they dry, the pods crack and open by…

P. M. — To Cliffs via Hubbard’s meadow. Succory still, with its cool blue, here and there, and Hveracium Canadense still quite fresh, with its very pretty broad…

The white pines are now getting to be pretty generally parti-colored, the lower yellowing needles. ready to fall. The sumachs are generally crimson (darker than…

Helianthus tuberosus, apparently several days, in Reynolds’s yard (the butcher’s). | P. M. — Down river. Wind from northeast. Some water milkweed flying. Its pods…

Sunday. P. M.—To Hill and over the pastures westward. Sally Cummings and Mike Murray are out on the Hill collecting apples and nuts. Do they not rather belong to…

I notice the effects of some frost this morn- ing in garden. Some pumpkin vines drooping and black. P. M. — Carried Sophia and Aunt up the Assabet.

P. M.—To Smith Chestnut Grove by Turnpike, and Saw Mill. At length I discover some white pine cones, a few, on Emerson Heater Piece trees. They are all open, and…

These are the finest days in the year, Indian summer. This afternoon it was 80°, between three and four, and at 6.30 this evening my chamber is oppressively sultry,…

P. M.— To Cliffs. - ‘The Indian summer continues. Solidagos now gener- ally show woolly heads along the fences and brooks. E. Hosmer said yesterday that his father…

It is interesting to see how some of the few flowers which still linger are frequented by bees and other insects. Their resources begin to fail and they are…

A sudden change in the weather after re- markably warm and pleasant weather. Rained in the night, and finger-cold to-day. Your hands instinctively find their way to…

P. M. — Up Assabet. A smart frost, which even injured plants in house. Ground stiffened in morning; ice seen. River lower than for some months. Banks begin to wear…

Ground all white with frost. P. M. — To chestnuts, down Turnpike. I notice these flowers on the way by the roadside, which survive the frost, 7. e. a few of them:…

Noticed some of the fungus called spunk, very large, on the large white oak in Love Lane, eight ’ or nine feet from the ground on the east side, on a protuberance…

Rain all night and half this day. P. M. — A-chestnutting down Turnpike and across to Britton’s, thinking that the rain now added to the frosts would relax the burs…

P. M. —'To Conantum. The fall, now and for some weeks, is the time for flocks of sparrows of various kinds flitting from bush to bush and tree to tree — and both…

P. M. — To Hill, to look for ground squir- rel nests. The river-banks have now assumed almost their November aspect. The button-bushes are nearly bare. The water is…

A very warm Indian-summer day, too warm for a thick coat. It is remarkably hazy, too, but when I open the door I smell smoke, which may in part account for it.…

Friday. 12 m.—Set out for Eagleswood, Perth Amboy, N. J. Spent the afternoon in Worcester. By cars in evening to Allyn’s Point and Steamer Commonwealth to New York.

Saw, at Barnum’s Museum, the stuffed skin of a cougar that was found floating dead in the Hudson many years ago. The stuffed jaguar there looks rather the largest.…

Sunday. An abundance of a viburnum, making thickets in dry woods and ravines and set out about houses, now full of edible fruit like that of V. nudum, and also of…

Monday. Began to survey along the shore and through the woods. One of the largest and com- monest trees, the tulip, in the moist ravines; its dried tulip-shaped…

Sunday. Took a walk two miles west of Eagleswood. The Quercus palustris, or pin oak, very common there, much like the scarlet oak. Name said to be derived from the…

Tuesday. Get home again this morn- ing.

P. M.— Take a turn down the river. A painted tortoise sinking to the bottom, and appar- ently tree sparrows along the shore.

P.M.—'To chestnut wood by Turnpike, to see if I could find my comb, probably lost out of my pocket when I climbed and shook a chestnut tree more than a month ago.…

Begins to snow this morning and snows slowly and interruptedly with a little fine hail all day till it is several inches deep. This the first snow I have seen, but…

Sunday. P.M.—To Cliffs via Hubbard’s Grove. Several inches of snow, but a rather soft and mild air still. Now see the empty chalices of the blue-curls and the rich…

P. M. — By path around Walden. With this little snow of the 29th wit. there is yet pretty good sledding, for it lies solid. I see the old pale-faced farmer out…

P. M. — Got in my boat, which before I had got out and turned up on the bank. It made me sweat to wheel it home through the snow, I am so unused to ' the work of…

About as much more snow as fell on the 29th November has fallen in the night upon that, so stilly that we were not aware of it till we looked out: It has not even…

Ceased raining and mizzling last evening, and cleared off, with a high northwest wind, which shook the house, coming in fitful gusts, but only they who slept on the…

Clear, cold winter weather. What a contrast between this week and last, when I talked of setting out apple trees! P. M. — Walked over the Hill. The Indians have at…

Saturday. 2 p.m. — To Hubbard’s Bridge and Holden Swamp and up river on ice to F. Pond Crossing, Just below pond; back on east side of river. Skating is fairly…

Sunday. P. M.— Take my first skate to Fair Haven Pond. It takes my feet a few moments to get used to the skates. I see the track of one skater who has preceded me…

Thermometer at 8 A. M. 8° above zero. Prob- ably the coldest day yet. Bradford, in his “ History of the Plymouth Plantation,” remembering the condition of the…

P. M.— Railroad to Lincoln Bridge and back by road. There is scarcely a particle of ice in Walden yet, and that close to the edge, apparently, on the west and…

A fine, clear, cold winter morning, with a small leaf frost on trees, etc. The thermometer at 7.15 and at 7.30 3°. Going to the post-office at the — former hour, I…

Wonderful, wonderful is our life and that of our companions! That there should be such a thing as a brute animal, not human! and that it should attain to a sort of…

P. M.— To Hill and round by J. Hosmer woodland and Lee house. I see some of those great andromeda puffs still hanging on the twigs behind Assabet Spring, black and…

P. M. — Cold, with a piercing northwest wind and bare ground still. The river, which was raised by the rain of the 14th and ran partly over the meadows, is frozen…

12 m. Start for Amherst, N. H. A verycold day. ‘Thermometer at 8 a.m. — 8° (and I hear of others very much lower at an earlier hour), — 2° at 11.45. I find the…

Knew the road by some yellow birch trees in a swamp and some rails set on end around a white oak in a pasture. These it seems were the objects I had noticed. In…

Rain more or less all day.

Sunday. ‘Think what a pitiful kind of life ours is, eating our kindred animals! and in some places one another! Some of us (the Esquimaux), half whose life is spent…

'To Boston and Cambridge.

Some savage tribes must share the experi- ence of the lower animals in their relation to man. With what thoughts must the Esquimau manufacture his knife from the…

More snow in the night and to-day, making nine or ten inches. P. M. — To Walden and Baker Farm with Ricket- son, it still snowing a little. Turned off from railroad…

P. M. — To Lee’s Cliff. A strong wind from the northwest is gathering the snow into picturesque drifts behind the walls. As usual they resemble shells more than…

Saturday. Walden is still open in one place of considerable extent, just off the east cape of long ~ southern bay.

Sunday. Am surprised to see the F’. hyemalis here. Walden completely frozen over again last night. Goodwin & Co. are fishing there to-day. Ice about four inches…

The snow is softened yet more, and it thaws somewhat. The cockerels crow, and we are reminded of spring. P. M. — To Warren Miles’s mill. We must go out and re-ally…