1 Where You Go Jumping1 from One to Another

Ap. 23d '56 continued. where you go jumping1 from one to another– The fans are now dotted with the minute reddish staminate flowers ready to open– The skunk cabbage leaf has expanded in one open place there–so // it is at least as early as the hellebore of yesterday. Returning when near the Dove rock–saw a musquash crossing in front. He dived without noise in the middle of the river–& I saw by a bubble or two where he was crossing my course a few feet before my boat– He came up quietly amid the alders on my right & lay still there with his head & back partly out, His back looked reddish brown with a black grain inmixed. I think that that white root washed up since {?} the ice broke up–with a stout stem flat on one side & narrow green or yellowish leaf bud rolled up from each side with a figure in the middle is the yellow2 lily–& prob I have seen no pontederia. The white lily root is thickly clothed with a slate3 blue dow fur or felt close fitting– refracting prismatic colors under the micros- cope–but generally the slate color of the fur of most animals–& perhaps it is de- signed to serve a similar use–viz for warmth & dryness– The end of the root is abruptly rounded & sends forth leaves–& along the sides of the root are attached oval bulb-like off shoots an in or 2 inches long with very narrow necks– –ready apparently to be separated soon from 1"jumping"altered from "tramping" 2"yellow" altered from "white" 3"e" added in pencil 1 the parent stock Hear the yel– red poll sing on the maples below Dove Rock–a peculiar though not very in- teresting strain or jingle– A very handsome little beetle–deep about 1/4 of an inch long–with pale golden wing cases artificially & handsomely marked with burnished dark green marks & spots, one side answering to the other. Front & be- neath burnished dark green–legs brown or cinnamon color– It was on the side of my boat. Brought it home in a clam's shells tied up–a good insect box. Columella says that the best land is not always black–& that the goodness of 185 land is not to be known by its color– "For as the strongest cattle are of diverse & almost innumerable colors–so also the most robust lands (robustissimae terrae) are of (sortitae sunt) very many & various colors"– Suggests various ways of testing the goodness of the soil–sprinkling a little water on a clod & kneading it with your hand, if it like pitch as Virgil says is glutinous, and sticks to your fingers ^ on the slightest touch–or thrown down does not crumble– This proves that there is a natural juice & fatness in it. Also like Virgil–says if you dig a trench–& wish to fill it up again & tread it down if, "cum aliquo quasi fermento abundaverit with a 2 certain ferment as it were it shall (overflow) & be more than enough– certum erit esse eam pinguem, it will be a certain sign that that is fat–; if there shall not be enough, that it is lean; if it shall fill it up level (cum aequaverit) that it is middling." We may distinguish it thus by the taste 186 Also ^ "si ex ca parte agri–if from that part of the land, quae maximae displi- cebit, which most displeases you–effosae glabae, clods being dug–et in fictili vase madefactae, & soaked in an earthen vase, dulci aqua permisceantur– ^ are thoroughly mixed with sweet water, ac more faeculenti vini diligenter colatae gustu explorentur, & being carefully strained like dreggy wine are are tried by tasting; fr nam qualem traditum abeis retulerit humor saporem– for whatever taste the liquor may have got derived from them, talem esse dicemus ejus soli– such we shall say is the taste of that soil." Sed citra hoc experimentum, but without this experiment there are many things–multa sunt quae et dulcem terram, et frumentis habilem indicate significent, which may show a sweet earth & fit for corn, ut juncus, ut calamus, ut gramen, ut trifolium, ebulum, rubi, pruni silvestres, as the rush, the reed1, grass, {j} clover ({is} trefoil) dwarf elder, brambles, wild plum2 trees, et alia complura, and very many other things, quae etiam indagatoribus aquarum nota, 1"reed" possibly written over "read" 2"plum" altered from "plums" 3 which are also known to searchers after water–, non nisi dulcibus terrae venis educantur, are not produced {but} by sweet veins of earth." This too it would be well for the man who plows our garden to remember– We cultivate one field {to} solely for the sake of the trees–yet a good part of them were nearly ruined by a heedless plow man whom we will never have come near it again & last year a choice pear tree was sadly barked–by the whiffletree of a wild horse – My question is Can you plow without touching a tree– Some plowers get a wild ox fairly under a low tree with his great horns well intertwined amid the branches as in a net & then whip him into a jig. I would rather have a short plower with a little more indolem "Boves cum ad arborem venerint, fortiter retinere ac retardere, when the oxen come to a tree he must strongly hold them back & retard them, ne in radicem majore nisu nisu vomis impactus colla commo- veat–lest the plow-share being driven with too great force against a root give their necks a shock, neve aut cornu bos ad stipitem vehementius offendat, or an ox may strike his horn violently against the stock, aut extremo jugo truncum 4 delibet–or with the extremity of the yoke may touch (or as if it were delabret–may bark) the trunk, ramumque deplantet & break off a branch, L Voce potius quam verberibus terrify terreat–Let him frighten them rather with his voice than his lashes–" Plowmen oxen & horses are still the same. It is true Columella is looking out more for the oxen than the trees. 187 This chapter–headed "Quae cura adhibenda sit bubus ab opere disjunctis– What care is to be taken of the oxen when they are unyoked from work" reminds me of Hosmer's weary oxen–which did not receive such attention– "Boves cum ab bubulcus opere disjunxerit1, When he (i.e. the plowman) or herdsman has unyoked the oxen, substrictos confricet, let him rub them down while girt, manibusque comprimat dorsam, and press the back with his hands, et pellem revellat, and pull up the skin, nec patiatur corpori adhaerere, not2 let it adhere to the body, quia id genus morbi maxime est armentis noxiam for that kind of disease is most hurtful to oxen. Colla subigat, let him rub their necks, merumque faucibus, si aestaverint, infundat, & pour wine down their throats3 if they shall have been very hot. Satis autem est singulis binos sextarios praebere. But it is enough to give each 2 sextarii [i.e. 1"x" inserted 2"not" poss written over "nor" 3"throats" altered from "through" 5 a little more than 2 wine pints] Sed ante ad praesepia boves relegri religari non expedit,– quam sudare atque anhelare desierint, but it is not expedient that the oxen be tied up to their stalls, till they have left off sweating & panting; cum deinde tempestive potuerint vesci, when afterward they can be fed seasonably, non multum, nec universum cibum, sed partibus, et ve paulatim praebere con^snit, it is not proper to give them much or the whole of their food, but part at a time & by degrees. Quem cum absump- serint, when they have consumed this, ad aquam duci opportet, they ought it is proper that they be led to water, sibiloque allectari, quo libentius bibant; and allured by whistling that they may drink more freely; tum demum reductos largiori pabulo satiari, then at length being led back be satisfied with a larger allowance of fodder." Apr 24 '56 A rain threatening April1 day–sprinkles a little in the forenoon P. m–to May-flower– // The yellow willow peels fairly–prob. for several days– Its buds are bursting & showing a little green–at end of RR bridge. On money-digger's shore much large yellow2 lily root washed-up–that white root with white fibres & yellowish leaf buds– 1"A" possibly written over "a" 2"yellow" written over "white" 6 I doubt if I have seen any pontederia this ? year– I find on the SE side of Lupine Hill nearly 4 rods from the water–& a dozen feet above its level–a young Emys picta 1 5/8 inches long & 1 1/2 wide– // I think it must have been hatched year before last– It was headed up hill. Its rear above was already covered with some kind of green moss? or comp the like, which probably had adhered or grown to it in its winter quarters. Warren Miles at his new mill tells me that he found a mud turtle–of middling // size in his brook there last Monday–or the 21st I saw–a wood tortoise there. He has // the young man says & eels–about the shore of the pond which had ap. died in the noticed several dead trout ^ washed up winter– about his mill–some that would weigh a pound–and thought that they had been killed by that strong scented stagnant water– of his pond–. They could not get down–also in the Spring ^ The cant get above his mill now– Apparently they were trying to get up the brook as usual and were stifled by that {green-washy} water.

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