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.
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