WILD RICE. 107 



fodder, embracing the advantages of hay and oat- 

 Mr. Lambert's figure of the plant in the Linnaen 

 Transactions is accurate, and exactly resembles 

 the one growing in the Seneca river. Its produc- 

 tiveness may be inferred from the food it furnishes 

 to thousands of human beings, and to myriads of 

 aquatic animals. From the success of the expe- 

 riment of Sir Joseph Banks, it is highly probable 

 that it vvi 11 grow in any part of this country and 

 Great Britain ; and if so, may it not be consider- 

 ed as a good substitute for the oryza sativa or 

 common rice. It is well known that the latter 

 furnishes more subsistence to the human race than 

 any other plant. Pursh mentions a grass which 

 he calls the oryzopsis asperifolia, which he obser- 

 ved on the broad mountains of this country, and 

 which, he says, contains large seeds, that produce 

 the finest flonr. Perhaps this species of oryzop- 

 sis, although generically different, bears the same 

 relation to z. aquatica, in its importance and 

 place of growth, as the mountain rice of India 

 does to the common rice of that region. At all 

 events, the more I see of this country, the more I 

 am convinced of its vast ability to support the 

 human species, and of the propriety of c a 1 li w ^ its 

 latent powers into operation. 



