CONSERVATION OF GAME BIRDS. 575 



although it may sometimes succeed in sand. It will grow in 

 brackish tidewater, but will not thrive where the water is 

 appreciably salty to the taste, nor in stagnant water anywhere. 

 The seeds naturally fall into the water and mud about the 

 parent plant, and, being slightly barbed, work gradually into 

 the bottom. 



Many people who have planted wild rice seed have been 

 disappointed in the result; but failures have been due in most 

 cases either to planting in unfavorable localities or to lack of 

 vitality in the seed. Seed gathered by the Indians is either 

 dried or baked and never germinates. The seed must be 

 kept cool and moist from the time it drops from the plant 

 until it is sown or planted. Seeds of wild rice ripen and drop 

 off a few at a time; therefore, preparatory to gathering it, it 

 is best to tie up the heads and thus save the seed on the stalk. 

 When the seed is gathered it should be packed in damp moss, 

 kept cool and sown broadcast as soon as possible in from one 

 to three feet of water. There is a disadvantage, however, in 

 planting seed in fall if any water-fowl frequent the locality, 

 as they are likely to destroy a large part of it. If it is kept 

 moist in cold storage at a temperature of from 32 degrees to 

 34 degrees F. until late spring, this danger will be minimized, 

 and the effects of spring freshets will be avoided. 



The method of preserving the seed has been carefully 

 worked out by the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, and several reliable firms 

 now offer the seed for sale, and will deliver it properly packed 

 in good condition in either spring or fall. It should be sown 

 as quickly as possible after removal from cold storage, and 

 quite thickly, as the growing plants when near together sup- 

 port one another, and their root anchorage holds the mud in 

 place. 



Wild celery is the food that has made the Canvas-back 

 famous; but many other Ducks feed upon it, and it betters 

 the quality of their flesh. The Redhead, the Scaups and other 

 diving Ducks easily can obtain the succulent buds of this plant; 

 but none feeds on it so habitually as does the Canvas-back. 

 The non-diving Ducks cannot, as a rule, secure the tender buds 



