Henry David Thoreau’s diary, 1860

P. M. — Via Turnpike to Smith’s and back by Great Road. How much the snow reveals! I see where the downy woodpecker has worked lately by the chips of bark and…

Began to rain last evening, and rained some in the night. To-day it is very warm and pleasant. 2 p. mM. — Walk to Walden. Thermometer 48 at 2 p. mM. We are suddenly…

Another fine warm day, — 48° at 2 p. M. P. M. — To Walden. I call that ice marbled when shallow puddles of melted snow and rain, with perhaps some slosh in them,…

The very slight rain of yesterday afternoon turned to snow in the night, and this morning consid- erable has fallen and is still falling. At noon it clears up.…

Tuttle was saying to-day that he did re- member a certain man’s living with him once, from something that occurred. It was this: The man was about starting for…

About an inch more snow fell this morning. An average snow-storm is from six to eight inches deep on a level. The snow having ceased falling this forenoon, I go. to…

P. M. — Down Boston road around Quail Hill. Very warm, — 45° at 2 p. M. There is a tender crust on the snow, and the sun is brightly reflected from it. Looking…

Another mild day. P. M. — To Goose Pond and Walden. | Sky overcast, but a crescent of clearer in the northwest. I see on the snow in Hubbard’s Close one of those…

2 p. M. — To Fair Haven Pond, on river. Thermometer 46; sky mostly overcast. The temperature of the air and the clearness or seren- ity of the sky are indispensable…

P. M. — Down river. 2 p. Mm. — Thermometer 38. Somewhat cloudy at first. The open water at Barrett’s Bar is very small com- pared with that at Hubbard’s Bath…

2 Pp. M.— 39°. Up Assabet. The snow and ice under the hemlocks is strewn with cones and seeds and tracked with birds and squirrels. What a bountiful supply of…

P. M.— Up river to Fair Haven Pond; return via Andromeda Ponds and railroad. Overcast, but some clear sky in southwest horizon; mild weather still. Where the sedge…

8 a. M. — On river. Walking on the ice by the side of the river this very pleasant morning, I see many minnows (may be dace) from one and a half to four inches long…

2 p.m. — To Tarbell, river, via railroad. Thermometer 46. Sky thinly overcast, growing thicker at last as if it would rain. Wind northwest. See a large flock of…

In keeping a journal of one’s walks and thoughts it seems to be worth the while to record those phenomena which are most interesting to us at the time. Such is the…

Fair, but overcast. Thermometer about 32°. Pretty good skating on the Great Meadows, slightly raised and smoothed by the thaw and also the rain of (I think) the…

2 p.m.— Up river to Fair Haven Pond, and return by Walden. Half a dozen redpolls busily picking the seeds out of the larch cones behind Monroe’s. They are pretty ~…

Colder than before, and not a cloud in the sky to-day. P. M.—To Fair Haven Pond and return via An- dromeda Ponds and railroad.

2 p. Ms— To Nut Meadow and White Pond road. Thermometer 45°. Fair with a few cumuli of indefi- nite outline in the north and south, and dusky under . sides. A…

2 p.mM.— To Bedford Level. Thermometer 45. Fair but all overcast. Sun’s place quite visible. Wind southwest. Went to what we called Two-Boulder Hill, behind the…

2 p.m. — 5°. A cold day. Two or three inches of dry snow last night. Grows colder apace toward night. Frost forms on windows.

6° below at about 8 a. M. Clock has stopped. Teams squeak. 2 p.M. — To Fair Haven Pond: The river, which was breaking up, is frozen over again. The new ice over the…

3 p.m. — 'To Gowing’s Swamp. I accurately pace the swamp in two directions and ~ find it to be shaped thus: — Gowing'’s Swamp. (Scale of forty paces to an inch)…

p.M.— Up Assabet. 2 p.M., 40°. I see where crows have pecked the tufts of cladonia lichens which peep out of the snow, pulling them to pieces, no doubt looking for…

To Cambridge. A rainy day.

2 p.M.— To Walden and Flint’s. Thermometer 43°. Fair, with many clouds, mostly obscuring the sun. Wind northwest, growing cooler. The sand has begun to flow on the…

2 p. M.— Up river to Fair Haven Hill. Thermometer 43. 40° and upward may be called a warm day in the winter. We have had much of this weather for a month past,…

A hoar frost on the ground this morning — for the open fields are mostly bare —was quite a novel sight. I had noticed some vapor in the air late last evening.

A very strong and a cold northwest wind to-day, shaking the house, — thermometer at 11 a. M., 14°, — consumes wood and yet we are cold, and drives the smoke down…

Saturday. 2 P.M., 20°.

Sunday. 2 p. M., 22°. Walk up river to Fair Haven Pond. Clear and windy, — northwest. About a quarter of an inch of snow fell last evening. This scarcely colors…

A snow-storm, falling all day; wind north- east. The snow is ‘fine and drives low; is composed of granulated masses one sixteenth to one twentieth of an inch in…

2 p.m. — Down river. Thermometer 38°. Warm; a cloud just appearing in the west. p . That hard meadow just below the boys’ bathing- place below the North Bridge is…

Snow maybe near a foot deep, and now drifting.

P. M.—TI see directly in front [of] the Depot Lee [?] house, on the only piece of bare ground I see hereabouts, a large flock of lesser redpolls feeding. ‘They must…

2 p.m. — Thermometer forty-six and snow rapidly melting. It melts first and fastest where the snow is so thin that it feels the heat reflected from the ground…

2 p.m. — Thermometer 56°. Wind south. 3 p. M.— Thermometer 58° and snow almost gone. River rising. We have not had such a warm day since the beginning of December…

2 p.m. — Thermometer 42. A very spring- like day, so much sparkling light in the air. The clouds reflecting a dazzling brightness from their edges, and though it is…

P. M. — Round via Clamshell to Hubbard’s Bridge. Colder, and frozen ground; strong wind, northwest. I noticed yesterday in the street some dryness of stones at…

Sunday. 2 p.m. — Thermometer 30; cold northwest wind. | The water is about six inches above Hoar’s steps. That well covers the meadows generally. Cold and strong…

2 p.m. — Thermometer 50. To Abner Buttrick’s Hill. The river has been breaking up for several days, 1860} THE BLOOD OF THE EARTH 163 and I now see great cakes…

2 p.M.— Thermometer 52; wind easterly. To Conantum. I am surprised to see how my English brook cress has expanded or extended since I saw it last fall to a bed four…

Rain all day. This will apparently take the frost out very much and still further settle the ways. It was already yesterday pretty good bare-ground walking on the…

Notice the brightness of a row of osiers this morning. This phenomenon, whether referable to a change in the condition of the twig or to the spring air and light,…

2 p.m. — 650°; overcast and somewhat rain-threatening; wind southwest. To Abner Buttrick and Tarbell Hills. See a flock of large ducks in a line, — maybe black? —…

Sunday. 2 p. m.— To Conantum via Clamshell. Thermometer 44; very strong and gusty northwest wind, with electric-looking wind-clouds. One spits a little rain, but…

The meadows skim over at night. White pine cones half fallen. The old naturalists were so sensitive and sympa- thetic to nature that they could be surprised by the…

3 pv. M. 44°. Fair and springlike, 2. e. rather still for March, with some raw wind. Pleasant in sun. Going by Messer’s, I hear the well-known note and see a flock…

Frost this morning, though completely overcast. A little sleety snow falling all day, which does not quite cover the ground, —a sugaring. Song sparrow heard through…

2.30 p.m.—50° To Cliffs and Walden. See a small flock of grackles on the willow-row above railroad bridge. How they sit and make a business of chattering! for it…

Snows this forenoon, whitening the ground again. 2 and 3 p.m. — Thermometer 41°. I have seen three or four pieces of coral in the fields of Concord, and Mr. Pratt…

2 vp. ma. — About 30°.

Sunday. 2 ep. m.— About 40°. It is cold and blustering walking in the wind, though the thermometer is at 40; 2. e., though the temperature is thus high, the strong…

Sleet, turning soon to considerable rain, —a rainy day. Thermometer about 40, yet it seems a warm rain to walk in, it being still, while yesterday, of the same…

Quite overcast all day. ‘Thermometer 36.

2 Pp. mM.— Thermometer 39. Overcast, with a flurry of snow and a little rain, till 4.30 p.m. To Walden and Cliffs. I am surprised to find Walden almost entirely…

Lhear that there was about one acre of ice only at the southwest corner (by the road) of Flint’s Pond on the 13th. It will probably, then, open entirely to-day,…

2p.mM.— Thermometer 55; wind slight, west by south. To Abner Buttrick’s Hill. The buttercup radical leaves are many of them now a healthy dark green, as if they had…

P. M. — To Walden and Goose Pond. Thermometer 56; wind south, gentle; somewhat overcast. There is still perhaps a half-acre of ice at the bottom of the deep south…

Sunday. Quite a fog, — after three warm days, — lasting till 8 a. M. 2 p.M.— Thermometer 56. Wind south, but soon changes to southeast, making the air fresh and…

Early willows in their silvery state. 2 p.M.— Thermometer 51; wind easterly, blowing slightly. To Everett’s Spring. ) Going along the Turnpike, I look over to the…

Worm-piles in dooryard this morning. A foggy morning; turns to some April-like rain, after east wind of yesterday. A. Buttrick says he saw and heard woodcocks the…

Colder and overcast. Did not Jook at thermometer; probably not far from 40°.

Colder yet, and a whitening of snow, some of it in the form of pellets, — like my pellet frost! — but melts about as fast as it falls. At 4 p.Mm., 28; probably…

2 p. mM. — 40°; rather windy. Small dark- based cumuli spring clouds, mostly in rows parallel with the horizon. I see one field which was plowed before the 18th and…

Cold and rather blustering again, with flurries of snow. The boatman, when the chain of his boat has been broken with a stone by some scamp, and he cannot easily…

Cold and blustering. 2 p.m. — 35°. To Well Meadow and Walden. See first cloud of dust in street. One early willow on railroad, near cowcatcher, just sheds pollen…

A pleasant day. I think I heard the last lesser redpolls near the begin- ning of this month; say about 7th. The top of a white maple swamp had a reddish tinge at a…

Calm, warmer, and pleasant at once.

A very warm and pleasant day (at 2 Pp. M., 63° and rising). More worm-piles in yard (not seen since morning of 20th, on account of cold, etc.). You will see these…

Surveying again for Ed. Hoar the wood- land adjoining his farm.

Sunday. Warm, with the thick haze still concealing the sun. Worm-piles abundant this morning. Our gooseberry begins to show a little green, but not our currant. 3…

Cold and windy. 2 p.m.— Thermometer 31°, or fallen 40° since yesterday, and the ground slightly whitened by a flurry of snow. I had expected rain to succeed the…

Wednesday morning. Lodged at Sanborn’s last night after his rescue, he being away. It is warmer, an April-like morning after two colder and windy days, threatening…

P. M.— Row to Clamshell and walk be- yond. Fair but windy and cool.

Rainy, more or less, — April weather. I am struck by the fact that at this season all vege- table growth is confined to the warm days; during the cold ones it is…

The purple finch, — if not before. P. M. — To Annursnack. This is the Rana halecina day, — awakening of the meadows, — though not very warm. The thermometer in…

Cheney elm, many anthers shed pollen, probably 7th. Some are killed. Salix purpurea ap- parently will not open for four or five days. 2 p. M. — 44° and east wind…

P. M. — To Cliffs. The hills are now decidedly greened as seen a mile off, and the road or street sides pretty brightly so. I have not seen any lingering heel of a…

White-bellied swallows. Elm bud-scales have begun to strew the ground, and the trees look richly in flower. 60 at 2 P.M. Hear a pigeon woodpecker’s prolonged cackle.

P.M.—TI go up the Assabet to look at the sweet-gale, which is apparently [ ?] out at Merrick’s shore. It is abundantly out at Pinxter Swamp, and has been some time;…

A strong westerly wind in forenoon, shak- ing the house. ' @p.mM.—44°. To Easterbrooks’s. Benzoin not for two or three days at least. Gold- finches the 11th and in…

Strong northwest wind and cold. Thin ice this forenoon along meadow-side, and lasts all day. 2 p. mM. — Thermometer-37. ‘To Conantum. At Conantum pitch pines hear…

Rather warm. In afternoon a true April rain, dripping and soaking into the earth and heard on the roof, which continuing, in the night it is very dark. This is…

I hear this forenoon the soothing and simple, though monotonous, notes of the chip-bird, telling us better than our thermometers what degree of summer warmth is…

Cold, and still a strong wind. 46 at 2 Pp. M. The Salix discolor peels well; also the aspen (early) has begun to peel. Melvin says he has heard snipe some days, but…

Surveying J. B. Moore’s farm. Hear the field sparrow sing on his dry upland, it being a warm day, and see the small blue butterfly hovering over the dry leaves.…

The Saliaz purpurea in prime; began, say, 18th. A warm day. Now begin to sit without fires more commonly, and to wear but one coat commonly. Moore tells me that…

Row to Fair Haven. Thermometer 56° or 54°. See shad-flies. Scare up woodcock on the shore by my boat’s place, — the first I had seen. It was feeding within a couple…

The river is only half an inch above summer level. The meadow-sweet and hardhack have begun to leaf.

A cold day, so that the people you meet remark upon it, yet the thermometer is 47 at 2 p. M. . We should not have remarked upon it in March. It is cold for April,…

Hear the ruby-crowned wren in the morn- ing, near George Heywood’s. We have had no snow for a long long while, and have about forgotten it. Dr. Bartlett, therefore,…

River five eighths of an inch below sum- mer level. P. M. — Row to Conantum. At the stone bridge the lower side outer end of the stone is about a quarter of an inch…

P. M. — To Ed. Hoar’s, Lincoln. Warm. 65°. ee - f~ The common Salix rostrata on east side railroad, yesterday at least. S. Torreyana a day or two longer. These…

Cattle begin to go up-country, and every week day, especially Mondays, to this time [szc] May 7th,’ at least, the greatest droves to-day. Methinks they will find…

Plant potatoes; the very midst of early potato planting. I now, as usual, turn up numerous yellow dor-bugs, which are as yet a very pale yellow, not having been…

River three and five sixteenths below summer level. I observed on the 29th that the clams had not only been moving much, furrowing the sandy bottom near - the…

'To Cambridge and Boston. I see at the Aquarium many of my little striped or barred breams, - ~~~ \ now labelled Bryttus obesus. Compared with ~ the common, they…

River three and one fourth inches below summer level. Scales of turtles are coming off (painted turtle). Quite a warm day, — 70 at6 p.m. Currant out a day or two at…

Cobwebs on the grass, —half green, half brown, — this morning; certainly not long, perhaps this the first time; and dews. 2 p.m.— 76°. Warm and hazy (and yesterday…

River three and one fourth inches below summer level. Why is it only three eighteenths of an inch lower than last Sunday (April 29)? For we are in the midst of a…

River one eighth of an inch lower than yesterday. Chimney swallow. Catbird sings. Hear the white- throat sparrow’s peabody note in gardens. Canada plum in full…

A cloudy day. The small pewee, how long. The night-warbler’s note. River four and seven eighths inches below sum- mer level. Stone-heaps, how long? I see a…

River five and three fourths inches below summer level. I think I heard a bobolink this forenoon. A boy brought me what I take to be a very red Rana sylvatica,…

River six and one eighth inches below summer level. Thermometer at 2 Pp. M., 71. The winds died away with April. In the midst of a remarkable drought. Hear of great…

The river no lower than yesterday. Warbling vireo. 2p.mM.—77°. Very warm. To factory village. Redstart. Red-wings do not fly in flocks for ten days past, I think. I…

Celandine. Very hot. 2.30 p. M. — 81°. We seek the shade to sit in for a day or two. The neck-cloth and single coat is too thick; wear a half-thick coat at last […

I observe this morning the dew on the grass in our yard, — literally sparkling drops, which thickly stud it. Each dewdrop Is a beautiful crystalline sphere just…

The heat continues. It is remarkably hazy; wind still northeast. You can hardly see the horizon at all a mile off. The mornings for some time past have been misty…

P. M. — To sedge path and Cliffs. Yesterday afternoon and to-day the east wind has been quite cool, if not cold, but the haze thicker than ever. Too cool,…

P. M. — To Copan and Beck Stow’s. 2 p.m. — 56°, with a cold east wind. Many people have fires again. Near Peter’s I see a small creeper hopping along the branches…

Quite a fog till 8 a. m., and plowed ground blackened with the moisture absorbed. J. Farmer sends me to-day what is plainly Cooper’s hawk. It is from eighteen to…

P. M. — To Walden. The creak of the cricket has been common on all warm, dry hills, banks, etc., for a week, — inaugurating the summer. Gold-thread out, — how long?…

A. M. — River seven inches below summer level. Wind south, and a gentle intermittent warm rain at last begins. This has been the longest drought that I remember.…

A strong, cold west wind. 60° at 2 P. M. To Walden. The Carex vulgaris is more glaucous than the séricta. Mouse-ear down at last. Scirpus planifolius — how long? —…

Cold, —at 11 a.m. 50°; and sit by a fire. At 12 it begins to rain. P. M. — To Cambridge. All vegetation is refreshed by the rain. The grass appears to stand…

Another cold and wet day, requiring fire. Ceases to rain at midday, but continues foul. The princi- pal rain was during last night, and was quite considerable. C.…

6 a.m. — To Junction. River four and one sixth inches below summer level, having risen about three inches since the morning of the 19th. See hopping along the limbs…

6 a.m. — Water fallen about one inch. P. M. — To Cliffs. I see in a ditch a painted turtle nibbling the edge of a frost-bitten yellow lily pad (in the water), which…

Frost last night in low ground. The yards are now full of little spires of June-grass, with a brownish tinge but not quite in flower, trembling in the breeze. You…

Overcast, rain-threatening; wind northeast and cool. 9 a. M. — To Easterbrooks Country. Carex lanuginosa, Smith’s shore, say three or four days. C. pallescens (?),…

Fire in house again. The Sylva striata are the commonest bird in the street, as I go to the post-office, for several days past. I see six (four males, two females)…

P.M. — To Deep Cut. Carex debilis, not long. Along the edge of Warren’s wood east of the Cut, see not only the chestnut-sided warbler but the splendid Sylvia…

P. M. — After ~~ with Farmer to Easterbrooks Country. He tells me of a sterile bayberry bush between his house and Abel Davis, opposite a ledge in the road, say…

P. M. — To Second Division. A washing southwest wind. George Melvin said yes- terday that he was still grafting, and that there had been a great blow on the apple…

Rained hard during the night. At 6p. m. the river has risen to half an inch below summer level, having been three to four inches below summer level yesterday…

2 P.M. — River 12 above summer level. 6 P. M. i ‘§ es Farmer has heard the quail a fortnight. Channing yesterday. The barberry flower is now in prime, and it is…

Saturday. The past has been Anniversary Week in Boston, and there have been several rainy or cloudy days, as the 30th, afternoon and especially night, and 31st, and…

6 a.m. — River three and three sixteenth inches above summer level; 7. ¢., the river has begun to fall within twenty-four hours and less after the rain ceased. 2…

Leave off flannel. Yesterday and to-day un- comfortably warm when walking. The foliage of the elms over the street impresses me as dense and heavy already, —…

A. M.— Northeast wind and rain, steady rain. Hemlock bead-work handsome, but hardly yet large ones. When I open my window at night I hear the peeping of hylodes…

Rain still (the second day), — clears up be- fore night, — and so cool that many have fires. The grass began to look fairly green or summer-like generally about the…

River at 6 a.m. twelve and seven eighths inches above summer level. 2 p.m. — To Well Meadow via Walden. Within a day or two has begun that season of summer when you…

7 aA. M.— River fourteen and one eighth above summer level only, though after considerable rain in the night. We have had half a dozen showers to-day, distinct…

Another showery day, or rather shower- threatening. : 2 p.m. — To Annursnack. A very strong northwest wind, and cold. At 6 P.M. it was 58°. This, with wind, makes a…

6 a.m. — River twelve inches above sum- mer level at 10.30 a. m. Sail to Tall’s Island. Wind northwest, pretty strong, and not a warm day. I notice the patches of…

P.M. Up Assabet. I find several Emys insculpta nests and eggs, and see two painted turtles going inland to lay at 3 p. M. At this moment these turtles are on their…

2p.m. To M. Miles’s via Clamshell. Hear of a snapping turtle which had begun to lay her eggs last night in Cyrus Hosmer’s corn-field, this side of Clamshell. He…

I see near at hand two of those large yellow (and black) butterflies which I have probably seen nearly a month. They rest on the mud near a brook. Two and three…

2 p.m.— River four and one half above summer level. For some time I have not heard toads by day,’ and not for a long time in numbers; yet they still ring at night.…

I notice this forenoon, about my melons, an excrement five to six eighths of an inch long, narrowed and with a sort of stem at one end, full of wing-cases of…

Quite a fog this morning. About 1 p.m., notice thunder-clouds in west and hear the muttering. As yesterday, it splits at sight of Concord and goes south and north.…

The tumultuous singing of birds, a burst of melody, wakes me up (the window being open) these mornings at dawn. What a matinade to have pee into your slumber! 2…

Dewy clouds in the air to-day and yester- day, yet not threatening rain; somewhat dog-day-like.

No dew this morning, but early in the forenoon. Heavy rain (with holdings up) all day and part of the following night. Very little wind, and that north- east. (This…

6 aA.m.— The river has risen to seven and a half inches above summer level (probably from about two or three above in the morning of yester- day). At 7 p.m. it is…

River at 6 a.m. eleven and fifteen six- teenths inches above summer level, having risen only seven sixteenths in the night. At 7 p. M. it is fifteen and one eighth…

River at 7 a.M. fifteen inches above sum- mer level, having fallen. A sparrow’s nest with three fresh eggs in a hollow of a willow, two and a half feet from ground,…

2 p.m. — To Clamshell. The dogdayish weather continues. ' The leaves generally are eaten when young and tender, as the leaves of melons (squashes) as soon as they…

Still hazy and dogdayish. Go to the menagerie in the afternoon. At 5 p.M.,—river ten and a half inches above sum- mer level, — cross the meadow to the Hemlocks. The…

— 2 p. mM. — Up Assabet to Farmer’s. See on the open grassy bank and shore, just this side the Hemlocks, a partridge with her little brood. Being in my boat, I went…

— Assabet Bath and Sunset Interval. On the 25th I first noticed that the black willows — the sterile ones, not whitened with down — were just begun to be handsome,…

Dogdayish and showery, with thunder. At 6 p.m. 91°, the hottest yet, though a thunder- shower has passed northeast and grazed us, and, in con- sequence, at 6.30 or…

Try the temperature of the springs and pond. At 2.15 p.m. the atmosphere north of house is 83° above zero, and the same afternoon, the water of the Boiling Spring,…

2 p.m.— To Well Meadow. River three and seven eighths above summer level. Rattlesnake grass is just beginning. The slender and leafy panic of the meadows (tall for…

A. M. — To lilies above Nut Meadow. The phalaris heads are now closed up, and it looks like another kind of grass, — those heads which stood so whitish some…

2Pe.m.— To Holbrook’s meadow and Turn- pike to try springs. Looked for the marsh hawk’s nest (of June 16th, q. v.) in the Great Meadows. It was in the very midst of…

Gentle rain in the night (last). The white pine shoot which on the 19th of June had grown sixteen and a quarter inches and on the 27th twenty and three quarters is…

Rain last night and all to-day. I notice of late the Osmunda regalis fully grown, fresh and handsome.

Rained last night, as well as all yesterday and some of the night before. ‘Three quarters of an inch has fallen. 6 A. M., river two and seven sixteenths above…

7 A.M. River two and a half above summer level. East wind and hazy. I see a flock of some twenty-five crows. Probably the young are just grown. Agrostis scabra.…

Yesterday was quite hazy, with an east wind. This morning there is a cold mist, which soon becomes rain, — at 2.30 p.m. The thermometer is at 66°, and some sit by…

Clears up at noon. See two handsome rose-breasted grosbeaks on the Corner causeway. One utters a peculiar squeaking or snapping note, and, both by form of bill and…

2 p.m. — To Pleasant Meadow via Lincoln Bridge. The Festuca ovina is a peculiar light-colored, whitish grass, as contrasted with the denser dark-green sod of…

Heavy rain in the night [of the] 10th-11th. An unusual quantity of rain within a week past; too much now for our garden. The lower leaves of vines yellowed. |…

Hear a nuthatch in the street. So they breed here. The best way to drink, especially at a shallow spring, or one so sunken below the surface as to be difficult to…

2P.M.— To Little Truro. You now especially notice some very red fields where the red-top grass grows luxuriantly and is now in full bloom, — a red purple, passing…

2 p.m. — To Botrychium Swamp. Botrychium Virginianum apparently in prime. Alope- curus aristulatus past prime. Pratt’s Pond side. Per- ceive now the light-colored…

It seemed to me yesterday that the foliage had attained its maximum of darkness, and as I as- cended the hill at eve the hickories looked even autum- nal.…

2 p.m. — To Great Meadows by boat. You notice now along the river, on the muddy shores, the dry (and closed) whitish heads of the canary grass, standing high above…

2 p.m. — To Walden. The soft sand on the bottom of Walden, as deep as I can wade, feels very warm to my feet, while the water feels cold. This may be partly a mere…

2 P.M. — To Second Division. The Asclepias Cornutt is abundantly visited nowa- days by a large orange-brown butterfly with dark spots and with silver spots beneath.…

2 p.m. — To Walden. Warm weather, — 86 at 2 P.M. (not so warm for a good while). Emerson’s lot that was burnt, between the railroad and the pond, has been cut off…

A rainy day; half an inch of rain falls, spoiling much hay. This is so wet a season that the grass is still growing fast and most things are very fresh. The leaves…

2 p.m. — 70°, and, with a breeze, cool. To Annursnack. See in the ditch by the roadside on Colburn Hill a box turtle which was crushed some time ago, and there is…

The button-bush is but just fairly begin- ning here and there. Still more rain this forenoon, but chiefly clouds. We have had several thunder-showers this month in…

The carpenter working for Edward Hoar in Lincoln caught, two or three days ago, an exhausted or half-famished golden-winged warbler alive in their ~ yard. It was…

P. M.—To Mr. Bradshaw’s, Wayland, with Ed. Hoar. I was surprised to see among the birds which Brad- shaw has obtained the little auk of Nuttall (ergulus alle, or…

2 p.m.— To Walden. Rhyncospora alba, perhaps as long as fusca, toward east part of Hubbard’s Close, 2.e¢. arethusa part. Rusty cotton-grass abundant, but also going…

A. M.— Pretty heavy rain last night. The day after a heavy rain, I can detect all the poor or sappy shingles on my neighbor’s low roof which I overlook, for they,…

2».M.— Up Assabet to Annursnack. Dulichium spathaceum apparently some days. Hol- cus lanatus long done; very abundant on the west and northwest side of Painted-Cup…

Rain, more or less, by day, and more in the night.

2». m.— To Martial Miles’s Swamp. Fimbristylis capillaris, probably several days in some places. See very pretty pink yarrow, roadside opposite Whiting’s orchard.…

Foggy morning. M. Pratt sends me T'rifoliwm agrarium (a long time out) from a ditch-side on his land, — yellow hop clover. This specimen is two feet high or long.…

P. M. — To Gliffs. The earliest corn has shed its pollen, say a week or ten days. Rye, wheat, and oats and barley have bloomed, say a month. I stand at the wall-end…

'The wing of the sugar maples is dry and ripe to look at, but the seed end and seed are quite green. I find, as Michaux did, one seed always abortive. P. M. — Up…

The knotty-rooted cyperus out some days at least.

8.30 a. M. — Start for Monadnock.! Begins to rain at 9 A. M., and rains from time to time thereafter all day, the mountain-top being constantly enveloped in clouds.…

The wind changed to northerly toward morning, falling down from over the summit and sweep- ing through our camp, open on that side, and we found it rather cold!

The last was a clear, cool night. At 4 A. m. see local lake-like fogs in some valleys below, but there is none here. This forenoon, after a breakfast on…

Morning — dawn and sunrise — was an- other interesting season. I rose always by four or half past four to observe the signs of it and to correct my watch. From our…

Wednesday. 8.30 4.M. Walk round the west side of the summit. Bathe in the rocky pool there, collect mountain cranberries on the northwest side, return over the…

At 6 A. M., leave camp for Troy, where we arrive, after long pauses, by 9 a. M., and take the cars at 10.5. I observed these plants on the rocky summit of the…

2p. m.—Air, 84°; Boiling Spring this after- noon., 46°; Brister’s, 49°; or where there is little or no ™~ surface water the same as in spring. Walden is at sur-…

Panicum capillare; how long? Cyperus strigosus; how long?

The river-bank is past height. ‘The button- bush is not common now, though the clethra is in prime. The black willow hardly ceases to shed its down when it looks…

Heavy rain.

Fair weather. See a blue heron.

2p. mM. — River about ten and a half inches above summer level. Apparently the Canada plum began to be ripe about the 10th.

We have cooler nights of late. See at Pout’s Nest two solitary tattlers, as I have seen them about the muddy shore of Gourgas Pond-hole and in the Great Meadow…

The note of the wood pewee sounds promi- nent of late.

Examine now more at length that smooth, turnip-scented brassica which is a pest in some grain- fields. Formerly in Stow’s land; this year in Warren’s, on the Walden…

Soaking rains, and in the night. A few fireflies still at night.

P. M. — Row to Bittern Cliff. Now, when the mikania is conspicuous, the bank is past prime,’ for lilies are far gone, the pontederia is past prime, willows and…

This and yesterday very foggy, dogdayish days. Yesterday the fog lasted till nine or ten, and to-day, in the afternoon, it amounts to a considerable drizzling rain.…

2. mM. — To Clamshell. See a large hen-hawk sailing over Hubbard’s meadow and Clamshell, soaring at last very high and toward the north. At last it returns…

2. M.— To White Pond. The leersia or cut-grass in the old pad ditch by path beyond Hubbard’s Grove. As I cross the upland sprout-land south of Ledum Swamp, I see…

P. M.— To Ministerial Swamp. Clear weather within a day or two after the thick dog- days. The nights have been cooler of late, but the heat of the sun by day has…

About 6.20 p. m. paddled on Walden. Near the shore I see at least one little skater to a foot, further off one to a yard, and in middle not more than one to a rod;…

Surveying Minott’s land. Am surprised to find on his hard land, where he once raised potatoes, the hairy huckleberry, which before I had seen in swamps only. Here,…

P.M. — To Walden. Saw a fish hawk yesterday up the Assabet. In one position it flew just like a swallow; of the same form as it flew. We could not judge correctly…

P. M. — To Annursnack. Solidago nemoralis apparently in prime, and S. stricta. The former covers A. Hosmer’s secluded turtle field near the bridge, together with…

P. M.— To Bateman’s Pond. 2 p. M.— River six and seven eighths above [sum- mer level]. Here is a beautiful, and perhaps first decidedly autumnal, day, —a cloudless…

P. M. — To Conantum. At my Swamp Brook crossing at Willow Bay, I see where a great many little red maples have sprung up in a potato-field, apparently since the…

P. M. — To Ball’s Hill. The brink of the river’ is still quite interesting in some respects, and to some eyes more interesting than ever. Though the willows and…

The willows and button-bushes have very rapidly yellowed since I noticed them August 22d. I think it was the 25th of August that I found the lower or older leaves…

P. M. — To Cardinal Shore. I see many seedling shrub oaks springing up in Potter’s field by the swamp-side, some (of last year) in the open pasture, but many more…

To Lowell via Boston. Rainy day. Pursh’s [sic] Brassica Napus is ‘‘ radice caulescente fusiformi, fol. laevibus, superioribus cordato-lanceolatis amplexicaulibus,…

In Lowell. — My host says that the ther- mometer was at 80° yesterday morning, and this morn- ing is at 52°. Sudden coolness. * [The quotation is from Persoon’s…

Lowell to Boston and Concord. There was a frost this morning, as my host, who keeps a market, informed me. Leaving Lowell at 7 a. M. in the cars, I observed and…

George Melvin came to tell me this fore- noon that a strange animal was killed on Sunday, the 9th, near the north line of the town, and it was not known certainly…

Very heavy rain to-day (equinoctial), raising the river suddenly. I have said, within a week, that the river would rise this fall because it did not at all in the…

I go early to pick up my windfalls. Some of them are half buried in the soil, the rain having spat- tered the dirt over them. The river this morning, about 7 a. M.,…

A. M.—River still rising; at 4 P. M. one and an eighth inches higher than in morning.

In morning river is three feet two and a half plus inches above summer level. 6 P. M., river is slightly higher than in morning, or at height. ‘Thus it reached its…

— Channing reads in papers that within a few days a wild- cat was killed in Northampton weighing twenty-two pounds and another in Tyringham, Berkshire County, of…

P. M. — To White Pond and neighborhoody As a consequence of the different manner in whic trees which have winged seeds and those which have: not are planted, — the…

P. M. — To Walden Woods. The trees which with us grow in masses, 1. e. not merely scattering, are: — 1, 2. White and pitch pine Oaks White birch Red maple .…

P. M. — To Merriam’s white pine grove. I often see amid or beside a pitch or white pine grove, though thirty years old, a few yet larger and older trees, from which…

E. Hosmer tells me to-day that while digging mud at the Pokelogan the other day he found several fresh acorns planted an inch or two deep under the grass just…

P. M.— To Walden Woods. See in the yard many chip-birds, but methinks the chestnut crown is not so distinct as in the spring, — has a pale line in middle of it,…

Anthony Wright tells me that he cut a pitch pine on Damon’s land between the Peter Haynes road and his old farm, about *41, in which he counted two hundred and…

P. M. —'To Walden Woods. See three little checkered adders lying in the sun by a stump on the sandy slope of the Deep Cut; yet sluggish. They are seven or eight…

P. M.— To Eb. Hubbard’s wood and Sleepy Hollow. See a little reddish-brown snake (bright-red beneath) in the path; probably Coluber amenus. Cut one of the largest…

P. M.— To Baker’s old chestnut lot near Flint’s Pond. As I go through what was formerly the dense pitch pine lot on Thrush Alley (G. Hubbard’s), I observe that the…

Emerson planted his lot with acorns (chiefly white oak) pretty generally the other day. There were a few scarlet oak acorns planted there on the south side in…

In a pine wood are the little oak seedlings which I have described, also, m the more open parts, little oaks three to six feet high, but unnoticed, and perhaps some…

P. M. — To Eb. Hubbard’s old black birch hill. Henry Shattuck’s is a new pitch pine wood, say thirty years old. The western, or greater, part contains not a single…

P. M.— To Tarbell pitch pines, etc. Quite a sultry, cloudy afternoon, — hot walking in woods and lowland where there is no air. J. Hosmer cut off the northernmost…

P. M. —'To Wheeler’s artificial pine wood. Exclusive and dense white pine woods are not nearly so common in this town as the same kind of pitch pine woods. They are…

2P.m.— To Tommy Wheeler wood-lot. A perfect Indian-summer day, and wonderfully warm. 72+ at 1p. mM. and probably warmer at two. The butterflies are out again, —…

P. M.— To D. Wetherbee’s old oak lot. As several days past, it has been cloudy and misty in the morning and fairer and warmer, if not Indian summer, in the…

P. M. — To Tommy Wheeler’s lot. As I go over John Hosmer’s High Level, there being considerable wind, I notice for the first time that pe- culiar blueness of the…

P. M. — To Blood’s oak lot. Measure the great white oak near the bars of the bridle-road just beyond the northeast corner of the Holden (?) farm. At the ground it…

Sawed off half of an old pitch pine stump at Tommy Wheeler’s hollow. I found that, though the sur- face was entire and apparently sound except one or two small…

To Cambridge and Boston.

2p.mM.— To Mt. Misery va sugar maples and Lee’s Bridge. The white oak near the English cress at three feet is nine feet and one twelfth in circumference and has a…

Cheney gives me a little history of the Inches Woods. He says it was a grant to Jekil (John (?) Jekil) by the crown, and that it amounted to half of Boxboro as well…

P. M.—To Mt. Misery. A white birch (Betula alba) west edge of Trillium Wood, two feet seven inches [in] circumference at three feet. On the Moore and Hosmer lot,…

River two feet four inches above summer level (and at height) on account of rain of 10th and 11th and 12th. The red maple on south edge of Trillium Wood is six feet…

This and yesterday Indian-summer days. P. M. — To Inches Woods. Walked over these woods again, — first from Har- — vard turnpike at where Guggins Brook leaves it,…

P. M. —To Blood’s woods. Sawed off a branch of creeping juniper two inches [in] diameter with fifteen rings. On one square of nine rods in Blood’s wood, which…

P. M.— To Mt. Misery. Saw off a hickory stump which is scarcely six and a half inches in diameter and has nearly a hundred rings. (It is the one of November 13th,…

P. M. — To R. W. E.’s hill. I see a pitch pine several years old on the west slope of the railroad embankment, sixty rods by pacing from the nearest pitch pine,…

If you cut a dense mixed wood of pine and oak in which no little pines have sown themselves, it is evident that a wood exclusively of oak sprouts may succeed, as I…

P. M. — To northwest part of Sudbury. The Linaria Canadensis is still freshly blooming. It is the freshest flower I notice now. Considerable ice, lasting all day,…

George Minott tells me that sixty years ago wood was only two or three dollars a cord here — and some of that hickory. Remembers when Peter Wheeler, sixty or more…

P. M. — To Easterbrooks’s. Under the two white oaks by the second wall south- east of my house, on the east side the wall, I am sur- prised to find a great many…

I count the rings in a spruce plank from the railroad bridge, which extend five and a half inches from the centre of the tree, and make them 146, — 5), + to a ring.…

P. M. — To E. Hubbard’s Wood. I see in the open field east of Trilltum Wood a few pitch pines springing up, from seeds blown from the wood a dozen or fifteen rods…

P. M. — To Annursnack. Looking from the hilltop, I should say that there was more oak woodland than pine to be seen, especially in the north and northeast, but it…

Get up my boat, 7 a.m. Thin ice of the night is floating down the river. I hear that some boys went on to Goose Pond on the 26th and skated. It must have been thin.…

P. M.— To Fair Haven Hill. Yesterday, rain, raising river somewhat. Examined the young hickories on Fair Haven Hill slope to see how old they are. I sawed off three…

P. M. — To Smith’s Hickory Hill-side. I come via Britton’s to see if I can find a seedling hickory under half a dozen years old. After searching long amid the very…

The first snow, four or five inches, this evening. Talk about slavery! It is not the peculiar institution of the South. It exists wherever men are bought and sold,…

Melvin sent to me yesterday a perfect Strix asio, or red owl of Wilson, —not at all gray. This isnow generally made the same with the nevia, but, while some…

Sunday. I saw the crows a week ago perched on the swamp white oaks over the road just beyond Wood’s Bridge, and many acorns and bits of bark and moss, evidently…