1026 WILD RICE GATHERERS OF UPPER LAKES (ETH. ANN. 19 
The plant blossoms in June, and by September the seeds are mature. 
The fruit heads are mostly of a pale green color with a tinge of yel- 
low, but at maturity they generally acquire a cast of purple.’ Rice 
beds have been described as resembling fields of wheat, of canebrake, 
and of maize. At maturity the stalks range from 2 to 12 feet in 
height above the water, and they also vary much in thickness. Their 
total length depends largely on the depth of the water in which they 
grow, as well as on the fertility of the soil. 
This latter cause affects also the size and strength of the stem. The 
stalks are most frequently from 5 to 8 feet in length, but they are 
also found as long as 16 or 20 feet. They grow up through water 
varying from 12 inches to 10 or 12 feet indepth. Mr L. A. Paddock, 
of Grass lake, Lake county, Illinois, describes the plant in the most 
luxuriant growth which it is believed to acquire in America. His 
description is unique also in the fact that, at Grass lake, after the 
plant grows to the surface of the water, and until it is 2 or 3 feet long, 
it lies flat upon the surface. Then as each leaf enlarges and gains 
strength the stalk straightens up (others have said that if once the 
young shoot gets down onto the water, it can not possibly rise, but dies 
without fruitage). By the middle of July the stalks are about 8 feet. 
high. At that time from the center of each stalk a long slender shoot 
grows to the height of about 4 feet above the topmost leaf. This 
shoot bears the fruit head. The stalk grows an inch or more in diam- 
eter, and to the height of 10 or 12 feet above the water. It grows to 
this, its greatest height, in water 1 foot deep, but it will grow and 
mature in water 8 feet in depth, in which case it rises about + feet 
above the surface. The roots are so strong and matted that they will 
support the weight of a man walking upon the mass in shallow water.” 
Natrurat ENEMIES 
An annual plant clearly seems to grow not for itself, but for its sue- 
cessors. Anything which destroys the seeds, even though they have 
reached maturity and are ready to grow, is as much an enemy of the 
species as though the parent plant had been destroyed. However, 
inasmuch as the plant may produce, say, a hundred offspring, the 
destruction of the plant before the maturity of its seeds may be a hun- 
dredfold more serious than the destruction of a mature seed. 
It will later be seen that the Indian, by his use of the wild-rice seed, 
is a great enemy of the plant, for it will be shown that the plant, unless 
it is artificially sown, is gradually being extinguished in such beds as 
are continually used. Waterfowl in countless numbers feed upon the 
erain at its maturity. In fact, it is so choice a food for duck, geese, 
teal, and other waterfowl that it is now quite frequently sown by gun 
' Elliott Coues in Botanical Gazette, Dec., 1894, p. 506. 
* Paddock, letter, January 20, 1899. 
