Report of the Botanist. 37 



those fit for food. Having made trial of it, I do not hesitate to say 

 that in tenderness of substance and agreeableness of flavor it stands 

 in the first rank. The only thing that detracts from its value is its 

 small size, it being usually scarcely more than one inch in breadth, 

 though under favorable circumstances it sometimes attains a diame- 

 ter of three inches. Its bright red color and brittle substance make 

 it a fungus easily recognized. It is abundant in the JSl^orth v^oods, 

 the favorite liabitat of many of our valuable species. 



Among the culinary vegetables held in high esteem among the 

 Chinese, says Dr. Hance, is one called by them Kau sun, or *'cane 

 shoots," which consists of the white solid base of the stem of a grass, 

 Hydropyrum latifolium, closely related to our Indian rice, Zizania 

 aquatica. It is said by the writer to be one of the most agreeable 

 and nicest of vegetables, and to possess a peculiar richness and deli- 

 cacy of flavor. He also suggests an examination of our similar 

 American plant to see if it may not yield a similar valuable product. 



My investigations, instituted in accordance with this suggestion, 

 were not rewarded by the desired discovery. The nearest approach 

 to it that was found is a tender white basal part in the young 

 offshoots or suckers of the main stem. This tender portion is pala- 

 table, and, like its Chinese relative, bears some resemblance in its 

 flavor to boiled green corn, but the quantity produced is too insig- 

 nificant to be of any value. The main stems are fibrous and hollow 

 to the base. 



Having had occasion to visit the celebrated Montezuma marshes 

 in quest of botanical specimens, I could not view with indifference 

 the enormous growth of luxuriant herbaceous vegetation that covered 

 this extensive area of marsh land. Rushes and sedges, reed-grasses 

 and flags, from six to ten feet high, and that too in dense, wide- 

 spreading patches, could not fail to impress the mind with the belief 

 that the capacity of the soil of these marshes for the production of 

 plants is truly wonderful. Enriched as it has been by the deposition 

 of ages and by the decay of crop after crop of marsh vegetation, its 

 present productions are an indication that there lie stored up here 

 elements of wealth more precious than mines of gold. The simple 

 question is, how can they be made available ? If the ordinary method 

 of drainage is not practicable, might not a 'system of dyking and 

 siphon drainage be adopted with advantage? If no system of drain- 

 age can be made profitable, and we must wait for the slow processes 

 of nature to bring about the desired result, may not more that is 



