Page:Summer - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/46

36 snapdragon, that little blue flower that lasts so long, grows with the lupines under Fair Haven. The early chickweed? with the star-shaped flower, cerastium? is common in fields now.

June 4, 1853. The date of the introduction of the Rhododendron maximum into Concord is worth preserving, May 16, 1853. They were small plants one to four feet high, some with large flower buds, twenty-five cents apiece, and I noticed the next day one or more in every front yard on each side of the street, and the in habitants out watering them. Said to be the most splendid native flower in Massachusetts. In a swamp in Medfield. I hear to-day that one in town has blossomed. The clintonia is abundant in Hubbard's shady swamp, along by the foot of the hill, and in its prime. Look there for its berries. Commonly four leaves there with an obtuse point.—The lady's slipper leaf out, so rich, dark green and smooth, having several channels. The bull-frog now begins to be heard at night regularly, has taken the place of the hylodes.

Looked over the earliest town records at the clerk's office this evening, the old book containing grants of land. Am surprised to find such names as &quot;Wallden Pond&quot; and &quot;Fair Haven&quot; as early as 1653, and apparently '52; also under