If all you know about Thoreau is Civil Disobedience and Walden Pond, you may be in for a surprise. This book contains numerous examples of Thoreau’s expertise as an observer, naturalist, environmentalist, and advocate of forest preservation. “Wild Fruits” was transcribed, from a bale of Thoreau’s papers, by Bradley Dean. Reproductions of a few pages of Thoreau’s handwritten manuscript are included to show the horrible handwriting that had to be deciphered.



Here’s a couple of “takes” from the volu

If all you know about Thoreau is Civil Disobedience and Walden Pond, you may be in for a surprise. This book contains numerous examples of Thoreau’s expertise as an observer, naturalist, environmentalist, and advocate of forest preservation. “Wild Fruits” was transcribed, from a bale of Thoreau’s papers, by Bradley Dean. Reproductions of a few pages of Thoreau’s handwritten manuscript are included to show the horrible handwriting that had to be deciphered.



Here’s a couple of “takes” from the volume:



• Biting into a wild November apple, expecting it to have a rich taste, Thoreau finds it “sour enough to set a squirrel’s teeth on edge and make a jay scream.”



• Climbing a “small” 20-foot white pine, intending to collect cones, Thoreau’s hands are covered with pitch from the cones. He wonders how squirrels keep their paws and whiskers clean when they gnaw the cones. Elsewhere in the book, Thoreau describes rubbing bayberries between his hands to clean off the pitch.



Over a number of years (1852-1860), Thoreau kept meticulous phenological records of the dates of many plants’ yearly progress – leafing, flowering, fruiting and seeding. Fast-forward to our own century; Richard Primack, Abraham Miller-Rushing, Becca Stadtlander, Caroline Polgar, and Amanda Gallinat have collaborated on studies comparing Thoreau’s average dates with those of known vegetation in the Concord area. Findings: (1) Since Thoreau’s time a substantial amount of native plants in Concord have either disappeared or become rare; (2) In comparison to 2004-2012, average dates are 11 days earlier (caused in part by Climate Change, increased pavement and citification, pollution, and increased deer population); (3) Leaf-out of 43 woody plants that were compared in 2009-2013 averaged 18 days earlier than in Thoreau’s observations.

