September 30.

September 30

September 30, 2020

Frost and ice.


H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 30, 1860

See September 30 1857 ("Ground white with frost this morning.")

Sept 30

Sunday. Went to see Merritt at Cambridge. Stayed all day. Very cool.

EDK, September 30, 1860

Sept 29

Merritt called on me in the afternoon. Paid for board 3.00. 

Coldest night this season.

EDK, September 29, 1860

Another hard frost.

September 29.

September 29, 2018

Another hard frost and a very cold day.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 29, 1860

Black frost

September 28

Butternuts still on tree and falling, as all September. 

September 28, 2020

This morning we had a very severe frost, the first to kill our vines, etc., in garden; what you may call a black frost, - making things look black. Also ice under pump.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 28, 1860

Butternuts still on tree and falling, as all September. See September 19, 1859 ("Butternuts have been falling for two or three weeks, — now mostly fallen, — but must dry and lose their outer shells before cracking them.")

A very severe frost . . .ice under pump. See September 15, 1851 ("Ice in the pail under the pump, and quite a frost.") See also September 29, 1860 ("Another hard frost and a very cold day."): September 30, 1860 ("Frost and ice."); October 1, 1860 (“Remarkable frost and ice this morning")

Sept 28

Wrote to Amsden.

EDK, September 28,1860

A little dipper in middle of the river.

September 27

Looking up, I see a little dipper in the middle of the river, evidently attracted by tame ducks, as to a place of security.

I sit down and watch.

The tame ducks have paddled four or five rods down-stream along the shore. The dipper approaches them by diving, and, in fear, they all rush to the shore and come out. The dipper shows itself close to the shore, and, when they enter the water again, joins them within two feet, still diving from time to time and threatening to come up in their midst.

They return up-stream, more or less alarmed, pursued in this wise by the dipper, who does not know what to make of their fears. Soon the dipper is thus within twenty feet of where I sit, and I can watch it at my leisure.

It has a dark bill and considerable white on the sides of the head or neck, with black between it, no tufts, and no observable white on back or tail. 

J J Audubon Fuligula albeola Buffle-headed Duck

When at last disturbed by me, it suddenly sinks all its body low in the water without diving.  Thus it can float at various heights.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 27, 1860

A little dipper in the middle of the river.  See September 8, 1859 ("See the black head and neck of a little dipper in mid stream, a few rods before my boat. It disappears, and though I search carefully, I cannot detect it again."); September 9, 1858 ("At length the walker who sits meditating on a distant bank sees the little dipper sail out from amid the weeds and busily dive for its food along their edge: Yet ordinary eyes might range up and down the river all day and never detect its small black head above the water.");  September 30, 1858 ("I see undoubtedly the little dipper by the edge of the pads this afternoon . . . It is much smaller than I have seen this season, and is hard to detect even within four or five rods. It warily dives and comes up a rod or two further off amid the pads, scarcely disturbing the surface"); October 17, 1855  ("I see behind (or rather in front of) me as I row home a little dipper appear in mid-river, as if I had passed right over him. It dives while I look, and I do not see it come up anywhere."); November 21, 1858 ("See from Clamshell apparently two little dippers, one up-stream, the other down, swimming and diving in the perfectly smooth river this still, overcast day."); December 14, 1854 (" Two ducks, which at length took to wing. They had large dark heads, dark wings, and clear white breasts. I think they were buffle-headed or spirit ducks."); December 26, 1853 ("Saw in [Walden] a small diver, probably a grebe or dobchick, dipper, or what-not . . . It had a black head, a white ring about its neck, a white breast, black back, and apparently no tail.”); See also J J Audubon ("The bufflehead, being known in different districts by the names of Spirit Duck, Butter-box, Marrionette, Dipper, and Die-dipper, generally returns from the far north, where it is said to breed, about the beginning of September.") and A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Little Dipper

September 27. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, September 27

A little dipper

in middle of the river –

I sit down and watch.

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, A little dipper in middle of the river

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality.”

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2024

https://tinyurl.com/hdt-600927

Sept 27

Went to the Museum to see the celebrated play entitled Collins Baun.


EDK, September 27, 1860

Under Emerson Cliff

September 26.

P . M . — Round Walden and Pleasant Meadow.

Small oaks in hollows (as under Emerson Cliff) have fairly begun to change.

Acorns have fallen after the rain and wind, just as leaves and fruit.

The taller grass and sedge, now withered and brown, reveals the little pines in it.

I see, just up, the large light-orange toad-stools with white spots.


H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 26, 1860

Sept. 26

Recd a letter from Ed Fay. Very cold tonight. Answered Fay's letter.


EDK, September 26, 1860

Fall rain.

September 25. 

Hard, gusty rain (with thunder and lightning) in afternoon.


H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 25, 1860

In Wood Thrush Path at Flint's Pond

September 24.

In Wood Thrush Path at Flint's Pond, a great many of the geiropodium fungus now shed their dust.

When closed it is a roundish or conical orange-colored fungus three quarters of an inch in diameter, covered with a mucilaginous matter.

It is pink-red inside and the thick outer skin of many have already curled back (it splits into segments and curls parallel to the axis of the plant) to reveal the pinkish fawn-colored puffball capped with a red dimple or crown.

This is a hollow bag. When you touch it, it spurts forth a yellowish-white powder three or four inches through its orifice.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 24, 1860

Two fox scat

September 23.

I see on the top of the Cliffs to-day the dung of a fox, consisting of fur, with part of the jaw and one of the long rodent teeth of a woodchuck in it, and the rest of it huckleberry seeds with some whole berries. I saw exactly the same beyond Goose Pond a few days ago, on a rock,-- except that the tooth was much smaller, probably of a mouse.

It is evident, then, that the fox eats huckleberries and so contributes very much to the dispersion of this shrub, for there were a number of entire berries in its dung in both the last two I chanced to notice. To spread these seeds, Nature employs not only a great many birds but this restless ranger the fox.

Like ourselves, he likes two courses, rabbit and huckleberries.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 23, 1860

I see on the top of the Cliffs to-day the dung of a fox. See February 1, 1856 ("What gives to the excrements of the fox that clay color often, even at this season? Left on an eminence.");  February 26, 1855 ("Examine with glass some fox-dung from a tussock of grass amid the ice on the meadow. It appears to be composed two thirds of clay, and the rest a slate-colored fur and coarser white hairs, black-tipped, -- too coarse for the deer mouse. Is it that of the rabbit? This mingled with small bones. A mass as long as one’s finger."); June 12, 1853 ("I find, in the dry excrement of a fox left on a rock, the vertebra, and talons of a partridge which he has consumed."); June 25, 1860 ("Also the track of a fox over the sand, and find his excrement buried in the sand. . . full of fur as usual. What an unfailing supply of small game it secures that its excrement should be so generally of fur!") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Fox

In the shady yew wood

September 23

September 23, 2018

I see everywhere in the shady yew wood those pretty round-eyed fungus-spots on the upper leaves of the blue-stemmed goldenrod, contrasting with the few bright-yellow flowers above them, -- yellowish-white rings (with a slate-colored centre), surrounded by green and then dark.

Red pine-sap by north side of Yew Path some ten rods east of yew, not long done. The root of the freshest has a decided checkerberry scent, and for a long time — a week after — in my chamber, the bruised plant has a very pleasant earthy sweetness.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 23, 1860

Pretty round-eyed fungus-spots on the upper leaves of the blue-stemmed goldenrod. See September 23, 1852 ("A blue-stemmed goldenrod, its stem and leaves red. ") See also November 10, 1858 ("In the path below the Cliff, I see some blue-stemmed goldenrod turned yellow as well as purple.")

Red pine-sap. See note to September 23, 1857 (“The red variety is very common and quite fresh”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Pine-sap and Tobacco-pipe

tinyurl.com/HDTyew

Sept 23

Sunday. Down to Wallace's in the morning.

EDK, September 23, 1860

Gerard's Herbal

September 22.

P. M. – To Clamshell by boat. 

Find more pieces of that Indian pot. Have now thirty- eight in all.

Evidently the recent rise of the river has caused the lower leaves of the button-bush to fall. A perfectly level line on these bushes marks the height to which the water rose, many or most of the leaves so high having fallen.

The clematis yesterday was but just beginning to be feathered, but its feathers make no show. Feathers out next day in house. 

See a large flock of crows. 

The sweet-gale fruit is yet quite green, but perhaps it is ripe. 

The button-bush balls are hardly reddened. 

Moreover the beach plum appears to prefer a sandy place, however far inland, and one of our patches grows on the only desert which we have.

I rarely read a sentence in a new botany which reminds me of flowers or living plants. The early botanists, like Gerard, were prompted and compelled to describe their plants, but most nowadays only measure them, as it were.

The former is affected by what he sees and so inspired to portray it; the latter merely fills out a schedule prepared for him. I am assisted by these books in identifying a particular plant and learning some of its humbler uses, but very few indeed write as if they had seen the thing they pretend to describe.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 22, 1860

See a large flock of crows. See September 29, 1854 ("A large flock of crows wandering about and cawing as usual at this season.") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the American Crow

Sept 22

Paid for board 6.00

EDK, September 22, 1860

To Easterbrooks Country.

September 21. 

Hard rain last night. River rising again.

The pods of the broom are nearly half of them open. I perceive that one, just ready to open, opens with a slight spring on being touched, and the pods at once twist and curl a little.

I suspect that such seeds as these will turn out to be more sought after by birds and quadrupeds, and so transported by them, than those lighter ones furnished with a pappus and transported by the wind; and that those the wind takes are less generally the food of birds and quadrupeds than the heavier and wingless seeds.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 21, 1860

Hard rain last night. River rising again.  See September 12, 1860 ("Very heavy rain to-day (equinoctial), raising the river suddenly.") and note to September 20, 1857 ("This is our first fall rain, and makes a dividing line between the summer and fall.")

Those the wind takes are less generally the food of birds and quadrupeds than the heavier and wingless seeds. See The Succession of Forest Trees ("It remains, then, only to show how the seed is transported from where it grows to where it is planted. This is done chiefly by the agency of the wind, water, and animals. The lighter seeds, as those of pines and maples, are transported chiefly by wind and water; the heavier, as acorns and nuts, by animals.")

Sept 21

In the forenoon very rainy. In the P.M. very cool. Paid for repariing shoes. .24

EDK, September 21, 1860

Sept 20

Very rainy.

EDK. September 20, 1860

At the Cattle Show

September 20.

Cattle-Show.

Rainy in forenoon.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 20, 1860


At the Cattle Show Thoreau delivered a lecture, the The Succession of Forest Trees
~~Zphx

Sept 19

Trade very good.


EDK, September 19, 1860

Sept 18

Very pleasant & warm.

EDK, September 18, 1860

A beautiful day.

September 18.

September 18, 2017

This is a beautiful day, warm but not too warm, a harvest day (I am going down the railroad causeway), the first unquestionable and conspicuous autumnal day, when the willows and button-bushes are a yellowed bower in parallel lines along the swollen and shining stream.

The first autumnal tints (of red maples) are now generally noticed. The shrilling of the alder locust fills the air. 

A brightness as of spring is reflected from the green shorn fields. Both sky and earth are bright. The first clear blue and shining white (of clouds).

Corn-stalk-tops are stacked about the fields; potatoes are being dug; smokes are seen in the horizon. It is the season of agricultural fairs.

If you are not happy to-day you will hardly be so to-morrow.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 18, 1860

This is a beautiful day, . . . the first unquestionable and conspicuous autumnal day. See September 18, 1858 ("It is a wonderful day."); September 18, 1852 ("It is agreeable to stand in a new relation to the sun. "); September 18, 1858 ("It is a fine September day . . . a new season has come."); September 3, 1860 ("Here is a beautiful, and perhaps first decidedly autumnal, day, -- a, cloudless sky, a clear air, with, maybe, veins of coolness”)

September 18. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, September 18

tinyurl.com/hdtoday18

Up river.

September 17.

See a flock of eight or ten wood ducks on the Grind stone Meadow, with glass, some twenty-five rods off, — several drakes very handsome. They utter a creaking scream as they sail there, — being alarmed, — from time to time, shrill and loud, very unlike the black duck. 

At last one sails off, 

calling the others by a 

short creaking note.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 17, 1860

Sept 16

Sunday. Went to East Boston in the forenoon. Wrote to Mother & Laura in the P. M.


EDK, September 16, 1860

Mr. Davis's museum.

September 15.

Looked at Mr. Davis's museum. Miss Lydia Hosmer has given him some relics which belonged to the Hosmer family.

A small lead or pewter sun-dial, which she told him was brought over by her ancestors and which has the date 1626 scratched on it.

Also some stone weights in an ancient linen bag, said to have been brought from England. They were oval stones or pebbles. There was a pound, a half-pound, a quarter, a two-ounce, and several one-ounce weights, now all rather dark and ancient to look at, like the bag. This was to me the most interesting relic in his collection.

I love to see anything that implies a simpler mode of life and greater nearness to the earth.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 15, 1860

Measuring the River

September 15.

In morning river is three feet two and a half plus inches above summer level. Thus it reached its height the third day after the rain; had risen on the morning of the third day about thirty inches on account of the rain of one day (the 12th).

Joe Smith's man brings me this forenoon a fish hawk which was shot on George Brook's pigeon-stand last evening. It is evidently a female of this year, full grown. It probably lit there merely for a perch.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 15, 1860

The rain of one day. See September 12, 1860 ("Very heavy rain to-day (equinoctial), raising the river suddenly.")

Sept 15

Went to Nahant with Mr. & Mrs. Goodard & Maria Keyes. A good time.

EDK, September 15, 1860

The Concord Lynx

September 13.

It is remarkable how slow people are to believe that there are any wild animals in their neighborhood. They who have seen this generally suppose that it got out of a menagerie; others that it strayed down from far north. They call it Canada lynx.

I do not think it necessary even to suppose it a straggler, but only very rare hereabouts. They are nocturnal in their habits, and therefore are the more rarely seen, yet a strange animal is seen in this town by somebody about every year, or its track. I have heard of two or three such within a year, and of half a dozen within fifteen years.

I have seen two lynxes that were killed between here and Salem since '27. Have heard of another killed in or near Andover. Dr. Reynolds tells me of a lynx killed in Andover, in a swamp near Haggerty's Pond, one winter when he kept school in Tewksbury, about 1820. Rice tells of a common wildcat killed in Sudbury some forty years ago, resting on some ice as it was crossing the Sudbury meadows amid ice and water. Boutivell of Groton tells me that a lynx was killed in Dunstable within two or three years.

This makes five that I have heard of (and seen three) killed within some fifteen or eighteen miles of Concord within thirty years past.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 13, 1860

They call it Canada lynx. See February 15, 1858 ("Saw, at a menagerie, a Canada lynx, said to have been taken at the White Mountains."); October 17, 1860 ("While the man that killed my lynx (and many others) thinks it came out of a menagerie, and the naturalists call it the Canada lynx, and at the White Mountains they call it the Siberian lynx, - in each case forgetting, or ignoring ,that it belongs here, - I call it the Concord lynx.")

On March 24, 2000, the contiguous United States population of the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  

Sept 14

Bought a box of Pears & Peaches and sent home to my folks.

EDK, September 14, 1860

Rising waters.

September 13.

The river this morning, about 7 A.M., is already twenty-eight and a half inches above summer level, and more than twenty inches of this is owing to the rain of yesterday and last night!! I see a snake swimming on the middle of the tide, far from shore, washed out of the meadow, and myriads of grasshoppers and beetles, etc., are wrecked or clinging to the weeds and stubble that rises above the flood. At evening the river is five inches higher than in the morning.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 13, 1860

Myriads of grasshoppers and beetles, etc., are wrecked or clinging to the weeds and stubble that rises above the flood. See August 26, 1856 ("The flooded meadow, where the grasshoppers cling to the grass so thickly, is alive with swallows skimming just over the surface amid the grass-tops and apparentlysnapping up insects there.”); August 25, 1856 ("Some have seven or eight grasshoppers, clinging to their masts, one close and directly above an other, like shipwrecked sailors, now the third or fourth day exposed.”)

Sept 10

Came in from Lexington this morn with Marion & Melvina. Went up in the State House in the morn.

EDK, September 10, 1860

Sept 9

Stayed at Mr. Goddard's last night. Went to Mr. G. in the eve.  Very cool & windy.

EDK, September 9, 1860

Sept 8

Very rainy. 
Paid for Washing & Board                    3.65

Went to Lexington                                  .25

                                                             .10

EDK, September 8, 1860

Whistling in the Dark

September 12.

Very heavy rain to-day (equinoctial), raising the river suddenly. A dark and stormy night (after it). Where the fence is not painted white I can see nothing, and go whistling for fear I run against some one. Walking with my hands out to feel the fences and trees I come against a stone post and bruise my knees.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 12, 1860

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 spring , and now it rises . A very dark and stormy night ( after it ) ; shops but half open . Where the fence is not painted white I can see nothing , and go whistling for fear I run against some one , though there is little danger that any one will be out . I come against a stone post and bruise my knees ; then stumble over a bridge , — being in the gutter . You walk with your hands out to feel the fences and trees . There is no vehicle in the street to - night . The thermometer at 4 P . M . was 54° . There was pretty high wind in the night .

I can see nothing, and go whistling for fear I run against some one. See September 18, 1857 ("it was exceedingly dark. I met two persons within a mile, and they were obliged to call out from a rod distant lest we should run against each other. ")

A Canada Lynx

September 11.

George Melvin came to tell me this forenoon that a strange animal was killed on Sunday, the 9th, near the north line of the town, and it was not known certainly what it was. From his description I judged it to be a Canada lynx. They told me that a boy had seen another this morning, supposed to be its mate, and that they were going out to hunt it toward night.


H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 11, 1860

Canada lynx. See September 13, 1860 ("Five [lynx] I have heard of (and seen three) killed within some fifteen or eighteen miles of Concord within thirty years past."); and note to September 29, 1856 ("Dr. Reynolds told me the other day of a Canada lynx (?) killed in Andover, in a swamp, some years ago, . . . thought to be one of a pair, the other being killed or seen in Derry. Its large track was seen in the snow in Tewksbury and traced to Andover and back. They saw where it had leaped thirty feet! and where it devoured rabbits. Was on a tree when shot. Skin stuffed some where.")

Signs of Fall

September 4.

It is cooler these days and nights, and I move into an eastern chamber in the morning, that I may sit in the sun.

The water, too, is cooler when I bathe in it, and I am reminded that this recreation has its period. I feel like a melon or other fruit laid in the sun to ripen. I grow, not gray, but yellow.

Saw flocks of pigeons the 2d and 3d. On Conantum an upland plover. The goldfinch is very busy pulling the thistle to pieces.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 4, 1860

I move into an eastern chamber in the morning, that I may sit in the sun. See August 29, 1859 ("It is so cool a morning that for the first time I move into the entry to sit in the sun"); September 17, 1858 (“Cooler weather now for two or three days, so that I am glad to sit in the sun on the east side of the house mornings.”); September 18, 1852 ("In the forenoons I move into a chamber on the east side of the house, and so follow the sun round.”)

The goldfinch is very busy pulling the thistle to pieces. See August 9, 1856 (“These are already feeding on the thistle seeds.”); September 4, 1859 ("Three kinds of thistles are commonly out now, — the pasture, lanceolate, and swamp") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Thistles
and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau the Goldfinch

Sept 5

Wrote to Williams concerning the school at Felchville. I accept the school for the Winter term.

EDK, September 5, 1860

Sept 4

Election in Vermont. Mr. Keyes elected Rep. on the first ballot by 31 majority.

EDK, September 4, 1860

To Bateman's Pond- signs of fall.

September 3.

To Bateman's Pond. 

2 P. M. — River six and seven eighths above [summer level].

Here is a beautiful, and perhaps first decidedly autumnal, day, -- a cloudless sky, a clear air, with, maybe, veins of coolness. 

The dense fresh green grass which has sprung up since it was mowed reflects a blaze of light, as if it were morning all the day. The meads and slopes are enamelled with it, for there has been no drought nor withering.

We see the smokes of burnings on various sides. The farmers are thus clearing up their pastures, - some, it may be, in preparation for plowing.

Though it is warm enough, I notice again the swarms of fuzzy gnats dancing in the cooler air, which also is decidedly autumnal.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 3, 1860

Here is a beautiful, and perhaps first decidedly autumnal, day. See August 19, 1853 (“The first bright day of the fall, the earth reflector. The dog-day mists are gone; the washed earth shines; the cooler air braces man. No summer day is so beautiful as the fairest spring and fall days.”); September 18, 1860 ("This is a beautiful day, . . . the first unquestionable and conspicuous autumnal day. . . . If you are not happy to-day you will hardly be so to-morrow") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The world can never be more beautiful than now.

I notice again the swarms of fuzzy gnats dancing in the cooler air. See  September 19, 1858 ("I see in the air between me and the sun those interesting swarms of minute light-colored gnats, looking like motes in the sun. . . . Do they not first appear with cooler and frosty weather, when we have had a slight foretaste of winter? . . .. It is to me a very agreeable reminder of cooler weather") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Fuzzy Gnats (tipulidæ)

Sept 3

Very cool and pleasant. 

Nothing worthy of note.

EDK, September 3, 1860

The dispersion of seeds.

September 1.

See how artfully the seed of a cherry is placed in order that a bird may be compelled to transport it. It is placed in the very midst of a tempting pericarp, so that the creature that would devour a cherry must take a stone into its mouth. The bird is bribed with the pericarp to take the stone with it and do this little service for Nature. Thus a bird's wing is added to the cherry-stone which was wingless, and it does not wait for winds to transport it.

Cherries are especially birds' food, and the consequence is that cherries not only grow here but there. Many kinds are called birds' cherry, and unless we plant the seeds occasionally, I shall think the birds have the best right to them.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 1, 1860

See The Succession of Forest Trees ("As for the heavy seeds and nuts which are not furnished with wings, the notion is still a very common one that, when the trees which bear these spring up where none of their kind were noticed before, they have come from seeds or other principles spontaneously generated there in an unusual manner, or which have lain dormant in the soil for centuries, or perhaps been called into activity by the heat of a burning. I do not believe these assertions, and I will state some of the ways in which, according to my observation, such forests are planted and raised. Every one of these seeds, too, will be found to be winged or legged in another fashion. 

Surely it is not wonderful that cherry-trees of all kinds are widely dispersed, since their fruit is well known to be the favorite food of various birds. Many kinds are called bird-cherries, and they appropriate many more kinds, which are not so called. Eating cherries is a bird like employment, and unless we disperse the seeds occasionally, as they do, I shall think that the birds have the best right to them. 

See how artfully the seed of a cherry is placed in order that a bird may be compelled to transport it — -in the very midst of a tempting pericarp, so that the creature that would devour this must commonly take the stone also into its mouth or bill. If you ever ate a cherry and did not make two bites of it, you must have perceived it — right in the centre of the luscious morsel, a large earthy residuum left on the tongue. 

We thus take into our mouths cherry-stones as big as peas, a dozen at once, for Nature can persuade us to do almost anything when she would compass her ends. Some wild men and children instinctively swallow these, as the birds do when in a hurry, it being the shortest way to get rid of them. 

Thus, though these seeds are not provided with vegetable wings, Nature has impelled the thrush tribe to take them into their bills and fly away with them; and they are winged in another sense, and more effectually than the seeds of pines, for these are carried even against the wind. The consequence is, that cherry-trees grow not only here but there. The same is true of a great many other seeds.")

See how artfully the seed of a cherry is placed . . .Thus a bird's wing is added to the cherry-stone which was wingless, and it does not wait for winds to transport it. See September 1, 1859 ("The cherry-birds and robins seem to know the locality of every wild cherry in the town."):See also July 14, 1856 ("While drinking at Assabet Spring in woods, noticed a cherry-stone on the bottom. A bird that came to drink must have brought it half a mile. So the tree gets planted!"); February 4, 1856. ("I have often wondered how red cedars could have sprung up in some pastures which I knew to be miles distant from the nearest fruit-bearing cedar, but it now occurs to me that these and barberries, etc., may be planted by the crows, and probably other birds.") see also September 21, 1860 ("I suspect that . . . those [seeds] the wind takes are less generally the food of birds and quadrupeds than the heavier and wingless seeds."); October 16, 1860 (Looking from a hilltop, I observe that pines, white birches, red maples, alders, etc., often grow in more or less regular rounded or oval or conical patches, while oaks, chestnuts, hickories, etc., simply form woods of greater or less extent, whether by themselves or mixed, and do not naturally spring up in an oval form. This is a consequence of the different manner in which trees which have winged seeds and those which have not are planted")

Sept 2

Sunday. Very cool & pleasant. Attended church at []St. in the P.M.

EDK, September 2, 1860

Sept 1

Paid for board 3.00

  "   for collars .30

EDK, September 1, 1860