JENKS] FAILURES OF CROP 1099 
Hennepin,' in 1697, speaks of flocks of duck, swan, and teal which 
devour the rice at Mille Laes: ‘* Les femmes [Ojibwa Indians] en lient 
plufieurs tiges [of wild rice] enfemble avee des écorces de bois blane, 
pour empecher que la multitude des Canars, des Cignes, & des Sar 
celles, qui s’y trouvent ordinairement, ne la mangent toute.” 
Dablon speaks of clouds of swans, bustards, and ducks which he 
saw in Green bay in 1670. The Indians caught them in nets, often 
taking fifty in one night.” 
It is unnecessary either to emphasize the value of these fowl as food 
to the Indian or to call attention to the fact that the fowl were plen- 
tiful largely because the wild rice offered them such abundant, whole- 
some food, but the following point might be overlooked. These fowl 
were really gleaners, and picked up and preserved in most delicious 
form the grain which otherwise the Indian would have lost entirely. 
Heayy waterfowl could not do very great damage to the standing plant, 
and while the grain was standing the Indian must gather his harvest. 
When the kernels shelled out into the water they were loss to the 
Indian, but gain to the fowl, which picked them up by diving to the 
bottom. It is interesting and instructive to note that of the illustra- 
tions cited in the chapter on production, all except the last two— 
from the Chicago Tribune, October 6, 1898, and Bressany—show the 
Indian as busied in capturing wild fowl while the Indian woman 
gathers the grain. 
Further evidence of the value of wild rice to the Indian, and of his 
dependence on it, is found in the following negative testimony. In 
all of these cases the Indian, for one reason or another, is unable to 
eet his accustomed supply. In some sections of the country the rice 
crop fails partially or wholly as often as once in three or four years,” 
while in other sections it has not been known to fail for long periods of 
time. The reason for this difference is doubtless found in the nature 
of the most frequent cause of failure, viz, drowning by high water.’ 

1 Hennepin, Nouvelle Découverte, p.313* (fol. 0*4). 
*Relations de Jésuites, Dablon, 1670, p. 96. 
3 Chief Simon Pokagon of the Potawatomi, St. Joseph county, Michigan, says ‘‘ once in four years” 
(letter, Nov. 16, 1898). N. D. Rodman, Government farmer in charge of Lac Courte Oreille reserya- 
tion, Wisconsin, says “once in three years” (letter, Noy. 11, 1898). Stephen Gheen, Government 
farmer, Vermilion Lake (Nett Lake) reservation, Minnesota, says crops fail ““ wholly about every three 
years’’ (letter, November 15, 1898). 
4 Peter Phalon, Government farmer, Fond du Lac reservation, Minnesota, says, ‘‘complete failure of 
crop never occurs. Crop some seasons is so small it would not pay to gather, there being barely 
enough for seed ..... After such failures it takes two years to grow a fullerop... Every alternate 
yeara full crop may, be expected, provided no floods occur. . . After a heavy crop one year must 
elapse before the old straw, necessarily remaining in the beds, decays, thus making room fora full 
new crop” (letter, December 27, 1898). Roger Patterson, Government farmer, Bad River reservation, 
Wisconsin, says “the crop never totally fails, but small crop occurs about once in three years’’ (letter, 
November 23, 1898). 
5 Henry Youle Hind, Narrative, p.119; Indian Affairs Report, 1867, pp. 341, 342; ibid., 1870, p. 309; ibid., 
1871, p.597 et seq.; ibid., 1880, p. 175; R. J. N. Pither, letter from Rat Portage, Ontario, Canada. Mr 
Pither was twenty-five years Indian agent, and the same length of time Hudson Bay Company’s 
trader; N. D. Rodman, op. cit.; Stephen Gheen, op. cit.; Peter Phalon, op. cit.; Roger Patterson, op. cit.; 
McKenney, Tour of the Lakes, p. 337. 
