Thoreau writes in his journal:
H. Hosmer [Henry Hosmer] says he has seen black ducks. Edmund Hosmer’s meadow, i.e. the Hunt house meadow, is covered with great pieces of meadow, the largest thick and dense cranberry meadow. It is piled three or four feet high for several rods. Higher up on the North Branch I see where the trees, especially the swamp white oaks, have been chafed smooth and white by the ice (at that time) . . .
