it all
at first, because I did not know when was the proper time for it; so I
sowed about two-thirds of the seed, leaving about a handful of each: and
it was a great comfort to me afterwards that I did so, for not one grain
of what I sowed this time came to any thing; for the dry month
following, and the earth having thus had no rain after the seed was
sown, it had no moisture to assist its growth, and never came up at all
till the wet season had come again, and then it grew as if it had been
but newly sown. Finding my first seed did not grow, which I easily
imagined was from the drought, I sought for a moister piece of ground to
make another trial in; and I dug up a piece of ground near my new bower,
and sowed the rest of my seed in February, a little before the vernal
equinox. This having the rainy month of March and April to water it,
sprung up very pleasantly, and yielded a very good crop; but having only
part of the seed left, and not daring to sow all that I had, I got but a
small quantity at last, my whole crop not amounting to above half a peck
of each kind. But by this experiment I was made master of my business,
and knew exactly when was the proper time to sow; and that I might
expect two seed-times, and two harvests, every year.

While this corn was growing, I made a little discovery, which was of use
to me afterwards. As soon as the rains were over, and the weather began
to settle, which was about the month of November, I made a visit up the
country to my bower; where, though I had not been some months, yet I
found all things just as I left them. The circle or double hedge that I
had made was not only firm and entire, but the stakes which I had cut
out of some trees that grew thereabouts, were all shot out, and grown
with long branches, as much as a willow-tree usually shoots the first
year after lopping its head; but I could not tell what tree to call it
that these stakes were cut from. I was surprised, and yet very well
pleased, to see the young trees grow; and I pruned them, and led them to
grow as much alike as I could: and it is scarce credible how beautiful a
figure they grew into in three years: so that, though the hedge made a
circle of about twenty-five yards in diameter, yet the trees, for such I
might now call them, soon covered it, and it was a complete shade,
sufficient to lodge under all the dry season. This made me resolve to
cut some more stakes, and make me a hedge like this, in a semi-circle