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Primary sourceSpeech1860 (address); published 1887

The Succession of Forest Trees, and Wild Apples

Henry David Thoreau · 1860 (address); published 1887

A printed edition of Thoreau's 1860 address on how forests regenerate, paired with his essay on wild apples, including a biographical sketch by Emerson.

Thoreau delivered this address himself, showing his work as an early observer of forest ecology.

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Title page of a book, a scan showing a library call number label reading 3051 E9 1887 MAIN on the left, the Riverside Literature Series heading, the title 'Succession of Forest Trees and Wild Apples', 'by Henry D. Thoreau', 'with a biographical sketch by Ralph Waldo Emerson', a woodcut device of a seated nude figure beneath the words 'bien ou mal' with 'The Riverside Press', and the publisher line 'Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, New York, Chicago, The Riverside Press, Cambridge'.
Henry D. Thoreau, The Succession of Forest Trees, and Wild Apples, with a biographical sketch by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1887.

About this source

What it is

This is an 1887 printed edition of two works by Henry David Thoreau: 'The Succession of Forest Trees', an address he gave in 1860 to the Middlesex Agricultural Society, and 'Wild Apples'. The edition includes a biographical sketch of Thoreau written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Why it matters

In his address, Thoreau explained how forests regenerate through the way seeds are dispersed, an observation now seen as an early contribution to the science of ecology. The speech, delivered to a local farming society, shows Thoreau engaging directly with his Concord community and sharing careful natural observations drawn from his own fieldwork.

Look closer

  • Why might Thoreau have chosen to give a scientific talk at an agricultural gathering rather than publish it as an essay first?
  • What does the opening of the speech suggest about how Thoreau saw himself in relation to his Concord neighbors?
  • How does pairing this address with Emerson's biographical sketch shape how later readers understood Thoreau?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Henry David Thoreau on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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