382 
States where the plant most abounds, it is on its use as a food-plant 
for duck and other edible wild fowl that its value as an economic 
plant chiefly depends. To-day, just as in Carver’s time, myriads of 
birds migrate to the wild-rice fields at the ripening of the seed, 
there to feast and fatten gloriously for a few weeks. 
The desirability, either from the point of view of food or that of 
sport, of establishing so valuable a plant in the fresh waters of the 
British Isles, and thereby augmenting the food supply of our native 
waterfowl, need not be emphasized. This is by no means the first 
time the idea has been mooted. In a paper on the Zizania read by 
Mr. A. B. Lambert before the Linnean Society, December 6, 1803, 
the author observes that “in a pond at Spring Grove [Isleworth] 
Sir Joseph Banks has a great quantity of this plant growing 
annually, ripening its seeds and sowing itself round the edges, and 
I am persuaded that it might be sown with some advantage where 
no other grain will grow in many shallow pieces of water in Great 
Britain and Ireland, especially in the latter country.” (Transactions 
of the Linnean Society, vol. vii., p. 264, fig. 13.) Whether any 
attempt was ever made to carry out this idea is not stated, but if 
so, it would not appear to have been permanently successful, for, in 
course of time, Zizania aquatica quite disappeared from cultivation 
in the British Isles. It was re-introduced about 12 years ago to 
Kew, where it has since been cultivated, but merely as an interesting 
and ornamental plant. Shortly thereafter a sustained attempt at 
its introduction was undertaken by Lord Walsingham. 
It has been thought worth while to attempt its acclimatisation in 
the most likely parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and for this 
purpose Kew has recently imported from Canada and distributed a 
considerable quantity of seeds. Among those who have kindly 
consented to assist the establishment by co-operating in this 
attempt have been the following :— 
Mr. H. C. Baker, Oaklands, Almondsbury, Bristol. 
Rev. M. C. H. Bird, Brunstead Rectory, Stalham, Norfolk. 
Mr. J. Bonhote, Gadespring, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. 
Mr. C. J. Cookson, Trelissick, Truro. 
Mr. H. Harmsworth, Horsey Hall, Great Yarmouth. 
Lord Iveagh, Elvedon Hall, Thetford, Suffolk. 
Mr. E, Kay Robinson, Warham, Norfolk. 
Mr. T, A. Dorrien-Smith, Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly. 
Mr. W. Smith, Hill House, Surlingham, Norwich. 
Lady ey Ashton Court, Bristol. 
Mr. W. F, Tremayne, Carclew, Perranarworthal, Cornwall. 
Sir A. P. Vivian, Bosahan, St. Martin, Cornwall. 
Lord Walsingham, Merton Hall, Thetford, Suffolk. 
Mr. J. C. Williams, Caerhays Castle, St. Austell, Cornwall. 
Mr. J. H. Buchanan, Leny, Callender, Perthshire. 
Sir J. Gladstone, Bart., Fasque, Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire. 
Mr. D. J. Macpherson, Glentrium, N ewtonmore, Invernessshire. 
Rey. J. E. Macrae, Lochinver, Lairg, Sutherlandshire. 
Lord Barrymore, Fota, Co. Cork. 
Earl of Kenmare, Killarney House, Co. Kerry. 
Marquis of Lansdowne, Derreen, Co. Kerry. 
ie hin Cooke, Colomendy, Mold, Flintshire. 
iss Talbot, Margam Park, Port Talbot, Glamorgan, 
