Thoreau writes in his journal:
The yellow birch sap runs very fast. I set three spouts in a tree one foot in diameter, and hung on a quart pail; then went to look at the golden saxifrage in Hubbard’s Close. When I came back, the pail was running over. this was about 3 P. M. Each spout dropped about as fast as my pulse, but when I left, at 4 P.M., it was not dropping so fast . . .
