Robinson had now been on the island long enough to know how the
seasons changed. He found that there were two kinds of weather there,
wet weather and dry weather. There were two wet seasons in each year
and two dry ones. During the wet seasons, which lasted nearly three
months, Robinson had to remain pretty closely at home, and could not
gather grain, for the plants were then starting from the seeds. It
ripened in the dry seasons. Robinson soon found that he must have a
store of corn and wild rice for food during the rainy seasons. He,
however, knew nothing about planting and harvesting, nor preparing
the ground for seed.
He had it all to learn with no teacher or books to instruct him. He
found a little space near his dwelling free from trees and thought
he would plant some corn seed here. He did not know the proper time
for planting. He thought because it was warm, seed would grow at any
time. It happened his first seed was put in at the beginning of the
dry season. He watched and waited to rejoice his eyes with the bright
green of sprouting corn, but the seed did not grow. There was no rain
and the sun's heat parched the land till it was dry and hard on the
upland where his corn was planted.
"Very well," thought Robinson, "I will plant it at the beginning of
the wet season, either in March or September." He did so; the seed
quickly sprouted up. But the weeds, shrubs, and vines sprouted as
quickly, and before Robinson was aware, his corn was overgrown and
choked out by a rank growth of weeds and vines.
"I see," said Robinson, "that I must thoroughly prepare the soil
before planting my seed." But he had no spade and no other tool that
would stand the strain of digging among tough matted roots. But he
must succeed. He put a new handle in the stone hoe or pick he had
already made. His mussel shell spade was worn out. He must set himself
to fashion out another. He decided to make one from the tough heavy
wood of a tree that grew plentifully in the forest.
He was lucky enough to find a tree of this kind whose bole had been
split lengthwise by the falling of an old rotten tree near it. With
his stone tools and the help of fire he managed after several days'
work to make a wide sharpened tool out of one of the large pieces
split off. It was a little over three feet long. He had trimmed one
end small and cut notches in the sides about one foot from the flat
end. He could place his foot in the notch and thrust his wooden spade
into the earth. With his rude tool he dug up and turned the soil of
a small space of ground several times to kill the vines and weeds.
His corn quickly sprouted after this attempt and outstripped the weeds
and vines which Robinson constantly had to hold in check by pulling
and hoeing. He was rejoiced at his growing crop and went each morning
to feast his eyes on the rapidly expanding leaves and ears.
One morning as he came in sight of the little clearing he thought he
saw something disappearing in the low brush on the other side as he
approached. Alas, his labor had been in vain! A herd of wild goats
had found out the place and had utterly destroyed his crop. Robinson
sat down nearby and surveyed the ruin of his little field. "It is plain,"
thought he, "I will have to fence in the field or I will never be able
to harvest my crop. I cannot watch it all the time."
He had already learned from his experience in making the fence around
the goat pasture that the branches of many kinds of shrubs and trees,
when broken off and thrust into the ground, will send out roots and
leaves and at length if planted close together in a line, will form
a thick hedge which no kind of beast can get through or over. He found
out some willow trees whose branches broke easily, and soon had enough
to thrust into the ground about six inches apart around the entire
edge of his little field, which contained about one eighth of an acre.
After this hedge had grown so as to be a fair protection to his crop
he tried planting again at the proper season. He spaded up the ground
and pulled out the matted roots as best he could and with great pains
and care planted his corn in straight even rows. To make them straight
and each hill of corn the same distance from its neighbors, he first
marked off the ground in squares whose sides were about three and one
half feet long.
"Now," thought he, "I will reap the reward of my labor." The corn grew
rapidly, and toward the end of the first dry season was filling out
and ripening its ears. But to Robinson's dismay a new danger
threatened his crop against which he could not fence. He was in
despair. The birds were fast eating and destroying his partially
ripened corn. He could not husk it yet. It was not ripe enough. He
thought how easy it would be to protect his field if he had a gun.
But he had learned that it is useless to give time to idle dreaming.
He must do something and that quick.
"If I could catch some of these rascals," he thought, "I would hang
them up on poles, dead, as a warning to the rest." It seemed almost
a hopeless task, but he went about it. It was in vain he tried to kill
some of them by throwing rocks and sticks. He could not get near
enough to them. At length he laid snares and succeeded in snaring
three birds. He had learned to weave a pliable, strong thong out of
cocoa and other fibre that he was now acquainted with. The birds thus
caught he fastened on broken branches of trees which he stuck into
the earth in different parts of his field. The birds heeded the warning
and visited his corn field no more that season.
At the end of the season he gathered or husked his corn and after it
was thoroughly dry he shelled it from the cob with his hands. He used
his baskets in which to carry his husked ears from the field to his
cave and in which to store it when shelled. He found that the ears
were larger and better filled and plumper than when the plants grew
wild. He selected the largest and best filled ears for his seed the
next time. In this way his new crop of corn was always better in kind
and yielded more than the old one.
At first he grew two crops a year, but by experimenting he found out
about how much he needed for his own use and planted once a year
enough to give him a liberal supply.
He observed that the wild rice grew in swampy lands, so that he did
not make the mistake of trying to raise it upon the upland where the
corn grew best. He saw at once that the planting of rice on low,
marshy or wet land was beyond his present strength and tools. "Some
time in the future," he thought, "I may try it."
Robinson also found wild grapes in abundance. These he dried by
hanging them on the branches of trees. He thus had a store of raisins
for each rainy season.