he
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