158 [Assembly 



On the north side of the White Face peak of the Adirondack, is 

 Sampson's Pond, to the west is Lake Placid, both pretty sheets of 

 water. In Sampson's Pond I visited a large granite boulder that is 

 entirely surrounded by water. On this bare rock the lung wort was 

 growing with no other nourishment except what it derived from the 

 rock and the atmosphere. Some of these plants were of the size of a 

 small tea saucer, and of about the same thickness, supported by a 

 stem adhering to the rock not larger than a knitting needle, and not a 

 quarter of an inch in length. This plant, when boiled in water, im- 

 parts to it a mucilaginous property which contains much nourishment, 

 and is used in the neighborhood by persons of consumptive constitu- 

 tions, and it is believed with beneficial effects. 



In a tour which I made to the northern shores of Lake Ontario, 

 and in the wilderness north and west of that locality, I obtained 

 wild rice which grows spontaneously in northern lakes with mud bot- 

 toms. The wild rice obtained grew in Rice Lake, some of it where 

 the water is twelve feet deep. The plant grows out of the water to 

 the height that rye attains above the ground. When fit for harvesting 

 the Indians enter the aquatic grain field with a bark canoe, and with 

 a long pole turn the rice heads over the sides of the canoe, and then 

 with a stick beat out the grain, and it falls into the canoe. Wild 

 geese and ducks feed on this grain. I have a small quantity of this 

 rice on hand, which I should be pleased to distribute for cultivation 

 to any person having a pond of water suited to its growth. The grain 

 is nearly black, and larger than rye kernels. I have used it in my 

 family, and find it as good as the white rice. It requires more boiling. 

 It- possesses the valuable property of growing where nothing else can 

 he profitably cultivated, and besides, it grows in localities where the 

 water is so clear and pure as not to impair the health of the persons 

 resident in the neighborhood of these aquatic rice fields. Rice Lake 

 is subject to volcanic action. 



On the shores of Lake Onondaga I found the Samphire plant grow- 

 ing most luxuriantly; in summer it is a beautiful green; when the 

 frost touches it the green changes to a beautiful and brilliant red. The 

 same plant I found growing in the sand on Coney Islan.l. 



On the shores of Lake Onondaga I found calcareous Geodus. 

 These sto k s are about the shape of a sugar almond, many of them of 

 larger size, they are white. When broken, a cavity is found in the 



