PKOPAGATION OP WILD-DUCK FOODS. 9 



where there is much current or change in the level of the water, 

 although it grows abundantly on tide flats. It is not adapted to 

 entirely stagnant water. 



It may also be added that the salt-water limits of wild rice may be deter- 

 mined approximately by the simple test of taste. When water is appreciably 

 salty to the taste it is too salty for the successful growth of this plant. 1 



From 4 inches to 6 feet of water are about the limits of its usual 

 occurrence, and it does best in from 1 to 3 feet. In shallow water 

 it may be killed by heat in summer, so it is best, in southern localities 

 especially, to sow the seed in not less than 2 feet of water. 



How to plant. — The least possible time must intervene between 

 removal from cold storage and sowing. Broadcast sowing answers 

 every purpose, and the seed should be thickly sown, as, when near 

 together, the growing plants support each other, the root anchorage 

 is protected, and a good stand is more likely to result than if the seed 

 is more widely scattered. 



When to plant. — Fall has usually been considered the most desir- 

 able time for sowing, but it has been proved that seed sown in spring 

 will bring a full crop, and for several reasons spring sowing is usually 

 advisable. Where seed has been sown in fall, the bottom may freeze 

 and the seed be carried off by the ice in spring. Ducks and other 

 waterfowl, as well as some fishes, eat the seed, and the less it is ex- 

 posed to their depredations the more abundant will be the crop. 

 Seed is likely also to be buried by depositions of mud, or swept away 

 by currents, especially in freshets. These dangers may be avoided 

 by sowing late enough in spring to avoid the worst spring freshets, 

 but in time to get the benefit of the first good growing weather ; that 

 is, when the temperature of the water approaches 60° F. 



WILD CELERY. 



VALUE AS DUCK FOOD. 



The names wild celery (Vallisneria spiralis) and canvas-back duck 

 have been closely associated in the annals of American sport. To a 

 certain extent this association is justified, since the canvas-back evi- 

 dently is very fond of the subterranean propagating buds of this 

 plant. However, the assertion that the flavor of the canvas-back is 

 superior to that of any other duck and that this depends on a diet of 

 wild celery is not proved, to say the least. The scaups, or bluebills, 

 and the redhead also are very fond of wild celery, and are fully as 

 capable of getting the delicious buds as is the canvas-back. Several 

 other ducks get more or less of this food, the writer finding that even 

 the scoters on a Wisconsin lake in fall lived almost exclusively on it 



1 Scofield, C. S., Bull. 72, Bureau of Plant Industry, Pt. II, p. 8. 1905. 

 61718°— Bull. 465—17 2 



