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Wild Fruits: Thoreau's Rediscovered Last Manuscript

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This may sound silly, but I was surprised to find out that this book is actually about WILD FRUITS. I mean everything you ever wanted to know about every kind of fruit the New England landscape has to offer: when it blooms, where it can be found, texture, color, everything. If you're looking for another Walden or a deeper understanding of the Transcendentalist movement, start elsewhere and come back to this one. As always with Thoreau this book is marvellously written, and the philosophy is there. It's just scattered and half-hidden throughout the landscape like wild strawberries (and just as delicious). It's a great read, just be warned: it's first and foremost about fruit!

I received Wild Fruits from my parents for Christmas, read it last spring, and finally have gotten around to writing a small, informal review. First of all, I'd like to thank Dr. Dean for bringing this last Thoreau manuscript to light-- he has done a great service to Thoreau enthusiasts, lovers of literature and nature, and posterity with this work (I'd tell him personally but I seem to have misplaced his e-mail address).

There isn't a great deal I feel need to add, as previous reviewers have done a good job already. Over the past year, Thoreau's words on these wild fruits have been steeped in my consciousness. Henry's loving, beautiful depictions of these various gifts of nature were with me as I worked this summer at a garden center, realizing that Henry's "shad bush" and our "serviceberry" were one and the same. After reading this book, I was much more aware of the fruits of my own native Michigan fields and woods-- blackberries, rose hips, elderberries, wild grapes, and viburnums were all there this summer, more numerous and beautiful than ever before. I found myself collecting and tasting plants I never would have thought to try before, Henry's words openened a whole new world to me. Then, in August, I made a pilgrimage to Massachusetts, looking for and tasting the fruits of New England, even the fabled huckleberries, on Cape Cod National Seashore and in the Walden Woods, as I sauntered along the railroad tracks into Concord from the pond. Even this fall, when I came back to my university in Colorado, I discovered and gathered the fruits of the prickly pear cactus, and have saved the seeds, hoping to possibly propagate them.

Read these last sweet words from our friend Henry-- let him teach you to love the simple natural joy that can be found nestled among the shrub-oaks and pitch pines: our free, wild American fruits.

Legendary nineteenth-century environmentalist, philosopher, and writer Henry David Thoreau has had a profound effect on American literature and ecology. His honest and poetic, down-to-earth writing style has inspired millions, influencing how we think about the natural resources around us. Wild Fruits, the recently published rediscovered text, is a collection of final notes from three years of writing and research (Thoreau died in 1862 just before completing the book). The pages were in storage at the Berg Collection in the New York Public Library until Thoreau specialist, Bradley P. Dean chanced upon them, and began decoding Thoreau's notoriously difficult handwriting. The actual text of Thoreau's Wild Fruits takes up only a fraction of the book-239 of its 409 pages. Dean then includes a chronology of Thoreau's life, other notes Thoreau took during the writing of Wild Fruits, a glossary of botanical terms, and notes on the original manuscript. The elegantly composed chapters catalog the berries and fruits of New England, with beautiful pen and ink illustrations and botanicals. Thoreau's observations leave nothing untouched. His talent for finding beauty in the smallest things is well represented in his descriptions of the flowering of black spruce, the arrivals of thimble berry, and fall bayberry-to name just a few. Thoreau's ability to find the sacred in commonplace is replete throughout Wild Fruits. A favorite passage celebrates seasonal flora and fauna: "Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit...be blown by all the winds. Open all your pores and bathe in all the tides of Nature, in all her streams and oceans, at all seasons." In a time when we spend more and more hours in front of computer screens and on commutes rather then resting beneath birches or walking along river banks, Thoreau provides the inspiration to rediscover nature, and lose oneself in forest, prairie, and mountains. His words to fellow townspeople a century ago are still appropriate to today's populous: "It is my own way of living that I complain of as well as yours, and therefore I trust my remarks will come home to you...we have behaved like oxen in a flower garden. The true fruit of Nature can only be plucked with a fluttering heart and a delicate hand, not bribed by any earthly reward." -Heather K. Scott

Having read a good portion of Thoreau's diaries, I expected to find little else in this new manuscript. I was wrong. I found more and better observations on nature - specifics on white pine cone seed disbursement is hardly water cooler talk and not for everyone - written in a manner that is interesting and relevant.

Intertwined with the topic of wild fruit and seed information is more of Thoreau's philosophy, that which has driven me to read him for all these years.

If you like Thoreau, you simply cannot fail to read this piece of his puzzle. I can't wait for someone to tackle and publish what remains of his unpublished work.

Finally, I must say that while closing the final page I was struck with a deep appreciation for the immense effort involved in publishing this book, given the quality of his handwriting and the poor organization of the manuscript. It is indeed appreciated.

At this time of the year, I am off to the local forests, parks, etc. with my dogs, to walk along and fill my lungs with hopefully clean air. The dogs and I like to kick up the leaves, and they sniff about a great deal, undoubtedly detecting one animal or another. As I look up, I see the walnuts clinging to their mother branches, standing out against the sky as Thoreau said they would. Many nuts fall long after the leaves.

This is a lovely book, and the next best experience you can have to a long walk in the woods. Bradley Dean, the Editor, could have called it "A Walk in the Woods with Henry David Thoreau." Thoreau sniffs, he tastes, he feels, he draws what he sees. And he invites the reader to do the same. Walden Forest and the surrounding countryside Thoreau knew are threatened, but some are trying to conserve what remains. Among other bits of information the reader can find in this book is how to join the crusade to save Waldon Forest.

Sadly, the American countryside Thoreau describes has been disappearing. Even 50 years ago, small farms were the norm, and hedgerows and creeks between farms harbored all sorts of wild things. Although DDT introduced after WWII had done a bit of damage to some of the wildlife, herbicides, pesticides, and huge commercial farms had not yet driven everything except a monocrop out of existence. One could walk along the country lane and find blackberries, chokeberries, cranberries, gooseberries, and blueberries in their many forms. Wild cherries and crabapples were abundant. Have you found crabapple jelly at the supermarket lately? I had to send off to a mail order company to buy it. Crabapples are native species, but they are in decline. Wild fruits we took for granted have been driven to the brink of extinction.

When I was in fourth grade, our teacher Mrs. Bryant took us to visit a brook that ran through our neighborhood. The brook was lined with a small forest, even though it backed up onto housing. There we found wild Trilliums and Mandrakes, signs of the Ovenbird, and a creek filled with Crawfish who scurried away when you moved the rocks that hid them. The creek was clear as glass, and we did not hesitate to drink the water--the thought we might become sick never entered our minds. A creek runs through my grandchildren's neighborhood, and it's lined with concrete where it doesn't run through a culvert--flood control to protect housing built where it ought not be built.

Thoreau writes beautifully, as everyone who ever read him knows. In "Wild Fruits" -- his last known work -- he describes the excursions he made into the woods, thickets, swamps, and fields during the last years of his short life (d. age 44). The journal entries/essays cover the seasons of the year, and are arranged by type of fruit--for the most part.

Thoreau is humorous, thoughful, and instructive. In the section on autumn fruits, Thoreau describes his friend who suggested they wear the stick-tights acquired on their pantaloons on an afternoon walk until they fell off naturally. His friend shows up a day or two later still coverd with little green seeds.

Thoreau is somewhat given to making political and philosophical comments, and he refers to the troubles in the bloody Kansas of the 1850s and other troubles associated with slavery. But, he can make your heart sing when he describes the bluejay hammering a nutcase like a woodpecker as he estracts his supper, or the complexity of the Asclepia seed pod that launches it's silky parachutes on the wind.

Finally, he reminds us how easy it would be to leave the natural world entact where trees rise toward heaven like the pillars of a cathedral -- and refrain from building the man-made edifices to worship God that are so inferior to those Nature erected.

I finally tried to read On Walden Pond a few Summers ago and I just couldn't force my way through it. I got sick of the way the author kept slamming farmers while suggesting a life of berry picking in the woods as the real way to go. Even the editor that put "Wild Fruits" together says "...in the popular mind..a querulous hermit... ." But then, "Recently the popular mind has had to expand itself to include...a third of his life: the one spent closely observing and eloquently reporting on natural phenomena-Thoreau the protoecologist."

It's enough to be a Prophet but really you need to write that Testament too, "Wild Fruit" is Thoreau's and it is wonderful. More poetic than Walden and less insular this book contains great wisdom and it's fun to read. I'm only 1/3rd through the book but even the 22 page essay on Black Huckleberry alone is justification for reading the whole book.

Emerson said at Thoreau's funeral that "The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost." I didn't until I started reading "Wild Fruits" and now it's very obvious he's one of the most important Americans to have ever lived.

What could be more pedestrian than the fruits (talking broadly) of plants - such fruits that include grains of wheat, hips of wild roses, apples, blueberries, etc. We may enjoy some of them as taste treats, but most of us ignore the everyday development of fruit from flower. The flowers are more noticed, except for some ornamental types like hollies. Yet the fruit and/or seeds of plants are amazing structures, many evolved to be carried by the wind, floated on water, eaten by animals or inadvertently carried by same through the devices of spines or hooks. In addition the seeds, surrounded by fleshy fruits or not, are little wonders- holding within them the promise of new growth. It always amazes me a little when I plant a seed and in a few weeks or months I have in its place a tall corn plant or tomato! Oaks are in acorns and tall pines in the seeds shed from their cones.

The long lost manuscript of Henry David Thoreau has now been published as "Wild Fruits", edited by Bradley P. Dean and elegantly illustrated by Abigail Rorer. It is a gem! Thoreau recorded his observations and thoughts about every sort of fruit and seed he encountered in New England, including the domesticated or semi-domesticated types. Occasionally he goes on about some favored fruit, such as the apple, explaining some of the folklore and history. In essence, especially in this troubled world, it is a great pleasure to read about these amazing, but everyday, objects of nature.

A good book to read and savor, I recommend it as an antidote to the hurried and harried lives we often live.

Do we have a preference for our Thoreau? ABSOLUTELY! But even the adulterated varietal will do in a pinch. The long lost diary of HD's romps in the woods serve well to remind us why some fruits are forbidden. Thoreau's posthumously edited musings over cattails, gladiolas, and other seductive succulents put the reader in the mood, apparently, for wanton strolls in a wooded glen savoring everything from unbridalled grapes (of wrath?) to the odd jack-in-the-pulpit. 'Tis better to give than to receive and this new work by an old friend makes a great gift when you want it known that you are in the mood for fruit more private than Publix.

This book is a collection of notes concerning the timing of various fruits that grow in and around Concord, Massachusetts. The word "fruit" is used very generally, and not all the "fruits" in the book are wild, since Thoreau includes comments about corn, potatoes, and other crops in the book, as well as about weeds and trees that produce seeds, such as maples. The book is comprised of articles that run from 1 or 2 sentences to 20 pages, depending on how much Thoreau has to say about the topic. The articles are arranged chronologically, according to when the "fruit" first ripens, beginning with elm seeds in May and ending with juniper berries in March. While some of the articles are accompanied by black-and-white sketches, they do not generally have enough information for readers to use the book as a guide for identifying plants. Rather, the book provides notes about the growth habits and ecology of plants. In addition to Thoreau's Wild Fruit material, there is also an introduction by the editor, Bradley Dean, and end material, including a selection of related passages (alternate beginning to Wild Fruits, the history of the apple tree, notes on the dispersion of seeds), a Thoreau chronology, a short glossary of botanical terms, a few black and white plates of Thoreau's manuscripts, editor's notes on the manuscript, a list of works cited, and an index.

This work represents the most detailed and systematic collection of Thoreau's naturalist observations. Even though the work is primarily about fruits, Thoreau still manages to slip a little philosophy in here and there. In his own introduction, he writes "The value of any experience is measured, of course, not by the amount of money, but the amount of development we get out of it." In his essay "Wild Apples," he writes "There is thus about all natural products a certain volatile and ethereal quality which represents their highest value, and which cannot be vulgarized, or bought and sold." Later, in an essay concerning cranberries, he notes "Both a conscious and an unconscious life are good; neither is good exclusively, for both have the same source. The wisely conscious life springs out of an unconscious suggestion....Indeed, it is by obeying the suggestions of a higher light within you that you escape from yourself and, in the transit, as it were see with the unworn sides of your eye, travel totally new paths." It's a fascinating book for readers of Thoreau, and would make a great reference for those interested in learning more details about the ecology of wild New England plants than can be found in common field guides.

I am not a philosopher, in fact I had never even read Thoreau before. I can't even tell you if I spelled his name correctly, but I can tell you that I felt as though he was there last spring, picking black raspberries beside me. His ability to give the simple things in life a rich meaning was awesome. Many times in the blueberry section I would stop reading and tell my wife one of Thoreau's thoughts. He is right that the poor boy picking berries is indeed richer than the rich boy who eats imported nuts. Once again, the journey and not the destination is the important thing. I started picking wild blackberries 6 years ago when my children were 2 and 3. They would gingerly pick the berries in an attempt to avoid the thorns. One of my fondest memories in life is of passing the bowl to the kids to hold while I picked, only to turn around seconds later and find the berries gone and the kids laughing wildly with blue stained lips. That's rich. I have been to Africa, Alaska etc. , but wild fruits is where I was born and wild friuts is where I want to die. For you city dwellers, keep an open mind and let him tell his story. I intend to get a jar of jam (wild black raspberry of course) to Mr.Dean and Ms. Rorer this summer.