How deep or perhaps sky-blue are those blueberries that grow in the shade! It is an unexpected and thrilling discovery to find such ethereal fruits in dense drooping clusters under the fresh green of oak and hickory sprouts. Those that grow in the sun appear to be the same species, only to have lost their bloom and freshness, and hence are darker.
The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance a palace or temple on the earth, and at length the middle-aged man concludes to build a wood-shed with them.
Trees have commonly two growths in the year, a spring and a fall growth, the latter sometimes equaling the former, and you can see where the first was checked whether by cold or drouth, and wonder what there was in the summer to produce this check, this blight. So it is with man; most have a spring growth only, and never get over this first check to their youthful hopes, but plants of hardier constitution, or perchance planted in a more genial soil, speedily recover themselves, and, though they bear the scar or knot in remembrance of their disappointment, they push forward again and have a vigorous fall growth which is equivalent to a new spring. These two growths are now visible on the oak sprouts, the second already nearly equaling the first.
4 comments:
Greg, this is wonderful: thanks for taking the time & energy to host this site! I look forward to getting a daily dose of Thoreauvian prose, and I'm sending my readers this way as well. Bravo!
Ooops, I forgot to "sign" that comment... This is Lorianne from Hoarded Ordinaries. Thanks again for designing & maintaining this site.
--L
http://www.lorianneschaub.com/blog
Lorianne, I aaure you the pleasure and benefit is truly mine. Reading the Journals is an Herculean task, but reading the entries for a single calendar date throughout those years in the journals is not only do-able, but thoroughly enjoyable. And beneficial. And educational. And inspirational. And yes, fun. And thanks for the mention on your blog.
And how appropriate, since this is (at least in central PA) an exceptionally good year for blueberries! We tend to find that the ones grwowing in the shade only bear fruit on such exceptional years (presumably a question of having just the right conditions around flowering time).
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