506 The Botanical Gazette. [December, 
quarter of section 24, township 146 N., range 35 W. of the 5th princi- 
pal meridian. This body of water, of roundish figure and about a 
view completely. The deepest part of such a lake is generally open 
or only broken by the bulrushes (Scirpus Jacustris); next shallower 
r i redominance of rice; then 
of the adjoining haying-meadows. 
ere is a great difference in the stature of the rice, as well as in the 
length and thickness of the fruiting heads, according to topical con- 
iti ih. «So it 1 i 1 
and ad be as many inches long, nodding under th 
the ripened grains. The heads are for the most part le gre 
color with a tinge of yellowish, but generally acquire a purplish shade 
at maturity. ain makes good food; it is nutritious, tastes very 
much like cultivated rice, and is cooked by boiling in the same way- 
But the commercial article—at any rate the sample Is irt 
appearance due to mixture with dark brown or blackish specks which 
than I do. It seemed to me to belong to the grain itself, as if it were 
the persistent beak of the carpel. I presume that this is what makes 
them call the cultivated product “white” rice, in distinction from the 
that which is freest from the dark specks. When boiled, the grains 
swell up, but not quite like those of our rice, for they acquire 4 curl- 
ous curl or twist 
In estimating the total value of this rice-crop as a food-product, we ae: 
should not forget to take into consideration the myriads of wild fowl 
which eat it almost exclusively at the proper season, and are eaten 1p 
turn by both whites and Indians. 
‘ Very truly yours. 
ig EiotT Cours. 
Salsola Kali tragus.—As the introduction and dissemination of 
weeds are receiving much attention from botanists, some facts regard- 
ing the first appearance of the Russian thistle in Chicago and vicinity 
