48 



The World's Commercial Products 





jrn 



JAPAN. A BARREL OF SAKE WRAPPED IN RICE STRAW 



water. ■ Wild rice is naturally 

 a fresh water plant, but it will 

 thrive on marsh lands, mud 

 flats, and similar places which 

 are alternately covered and left 

 bare by the tide, provided the 

 sea water is sufficiently diluted 

 by the addition of fresh water. 

 Very careful experiments were 

 conducted by one of the officers 

 of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to deter- 

 mine exactly the limit of salin- 

 ity. He found that the sense 

 of taste is a sufficiently accurate 

 guide. Water which is appreci- 

 ably salt to the taste is not 

 suited to the successful culti- 

 vation of wild rice, and areas 

 exposed to such water, however 

 promising they may appear 

 otherwise, should be avoided 

 by the would-be cultivator. 



The plant also occurs in 

 China and Japan, and in the 



former country is known as 

 Kau-sun. It is extensively 

 cultivated along the margins 

 of lakes and streams, but it 

 appears to be but seldom 

 allowed to flower and form 

 seed, as the Chinese appre- 

 ciate the vegetative portions 

 of the plant rather than the 

 grain as a food-stuff. The 

 very young shoots and the 

 solid bases of the stems are 

 collected, lightly boiled, and 

 eaten as a vegetable. 



In Brazil and the West 

 Indies another species of 

 Zizania is reported to occur 

 and to be used to some extent 

 by man for food and for 

 fodder. With proper care 

 wild rice or Canada rice, as it 

 is also called, could no doubt 

 be cultivated in suitable 

 localities in the United 

 Kingdom. 



JAPAN. MAKING UP RICE IN 136 LB. BALES, COVERED 

 WITH RICE STRAW 



