GRASSES 



and grateful to the eye of the traveller. It must have been 

 nearly a century ago since these plains were last burnt over 

 not within the memory of the oldest settler in the town- 

 ship of Hamilton. Yet deep down, some six or seven feet 

 below the surface, the charred remains of oaks are found to 

 prove the truth of the Indian name, " The Lake of the 

 Burning Plains." Indian names have always some founda- 

 tion; adopted from peculiar circumstances, they have 

 acquired a sort of historical value among the people. 



The name of " Bice Lake " is derived from the fields of 

 Wild Kice, Zizania aquatica (L.), which abound in the 

 shallower waters of this fine inland sheet of water, and 

 give the appearance of low verdant islands clothing its 

 waters. When the Eice is ripened and the leaves faded a 

 golden tint comes over the aquatic field, and the low Rice 

 islands, as they catch the rays of the sun, take the form of 

 sands glowing with yellow light. Where the water is low 

 these Rice beds increase so as nearly to fill the shallow 

 lakes and impede the progress of boats, changing the channel 

 and altering the aspect of the waters. 



In the month of June the tender green spikes of the leaves 

 begin to appear; in July the Rice begins to push up its 

 stiff, upright stalk, sheathed within the folds of which are 

 the delicate, fragile flowers; from the slender glumes the 

 beautiful straw-colored and 'purple anthers hang down, 

 fluttering in the breeze which stirs the grassy leaves that 

 float loosely upon the surface of the water, rising and falling 

 with every movement. The plant grows in lakes, ponds, and 

 other waters where the current is not very strong, to the 

 depth of from three to eight feet or even deeper. The grassy 

 or ribbon-like flexible leaves are very long. I remember a 

 gentleman who was rowing me across the lake drew up one 

 at a chance on his oar and measured it, the length being 



Ha 211 



