STORAGE AND GERMINATION OF WILD RICE SEED. 13 



six days, provision should be made for a temperature sufficiently low- 

 to prevent marked fermentation, A temperature approximately 

 freezing will give the most satisfactory results. 



(5) Wild rice can be sown either in the autumn or in the spring. 

 Spring sowing is preferable, thus avoiding the danger of having the 

 seed eaten or destroyed by wild ducks or other animals during the fall 

 or winter, or of its being l)uried or washed away by the heavy floods 

 of late winter or early spring. 



(6) Wild rice should be sown in the spring in from 1 to 3 feet of 

 water which is neither too stagnant nor too swiftly moving, as soon as 

 the danger of heavy floods is passed. 



(7) Wild rice is of the greatest importance as a food for wild water- 

 fowl, likewise a delicious breakfast food for man, and the area in which 

 it is extensively grown should be extended. It will grow luxuriantly 

 in either warm or cold water; furthermore, it can be grown success- 

 fully in water which is slightly salty to the taste. 



(S) In determining the vitalit}^ of any sample of wild rice seed the 

 germination tests should be made in water — the condition under which 

 the self-sown seed germinates. 



(9) The seed will germinate well at temperatures ranging from 

 15^ to 30^ C. The maximum temperature of germination is above 

 35 "" C. (95^ F.), but better results are obtained at lower temperatures. 



