On View
On viewTree Sap Spout
Artist
Henry David Thoreau
1817 - 1862
Dateca. 1856
Terms
- Sap Spouts
- String
- Sumac
- Concord (Massachusetts)
Dimensions12.69 × 1.9 cm (5 × 3/4 in.)
MarkingsLabel on file: "Spout for leading the sap from Birch trees, made by H.D. Thoreau".
Credit LineGift of Mr. Walton Ricketson and Miss Anna Ricketson (1929)
Object numberTh33e
DescriptionPiece of sumac, hollow, with the dark bark still attached. Length of string wrapped around the tap and tied in a bow. One end of the spout is notched. Used to tap birch trees. Item removed from box Th33.
Toward the end of March 1856, Thoreau set about systematically to tap some trees for their rising sap. "I am looking after elder and sumach for spouts," he wrote on the 20th, continuing, "I find the latter best, for though the former has as large a pith (larger in proportion to its size), its wood commonly being less, it does not fill so large a hole, nor is it so strong." Each detail of the process interested him; the smell of the pith of various woods, the way the sap purpled his fingers. For tools, he "had two tin pails and a pitcher. Had a three-quarters-inch auger. Made a dozen spouts, five or six inches long, hole as large as a pencil, smoothed with a pencil." He hung the pails on the spout or on a nail; this spout has a notch cut to receive the pail handle.
Toward the end of March 1856, Thoreau set about systematically to tap some trees for their rising sap. "I am looking after elder and sumach for spouts," he wrote on the 20th, continuing, "I find the latter best, for though the former has as large a pith (larger in proportion to its size), its wood commonly being less, it does not fill so large a hole, nor is it so strong." Each detail of the process interested him; the smell of the pith of various woods, the way the sap purpled his fingers. For tools, he "had two tin pails and a pitcher. Had a three-quarters-inch auger. Made a dozen spouts, five or six inches long, hole as large as a pencil, smoothed with a pencil." He hung the pails on the spout or on a nail; this spout has a notch cut to receive the pail handle.
Collections
- Henry David Thoreau Collection
