180 



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THE GAME BREEDER 



Lawrence River to New Brunswickf ; 

 from Central Dakota, western Nebraska, 

 and eastern Texas to the Atlantic coast ; 

 and as far south along that coast as cen- 

 tral Florida. (See fig., 3.) The plant is 

 rather local and of course is confined to 

 the lowlands. The center of abundance 

 is in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. 



Transplanting Wild Rice. 

 Although wild rice does not grow nat- 

 urally in every suitable place within its 

 range, in most cases it can be made to 

 do so by transplanting. Formerly wild 

 rice was often transplanted by various 

 tribes of Indians, and investigations by 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry have 

 shown that with proper treatment of the 

 seed the plant may be propagated in any 

 favorable waters in the country. It has 

 also been successfully grown in Europe. 

 The black spots on the accompanying 

 map (fig. 3) represent numerous locali- 

 ties where it has been successfully trans- 

 planted in North America. The showing 

 thus made should encourage those who 

 are looking for a plant to make barren 

 waters attractive to ducks, and especially 

 those who have already tried wild rice 

 without success. However, experiment- 

 ers must be prepared for occasional fail- 

 ure, for both wild rice and wild celery 

 sometimes refuse to< grow in localities 

 which appear to possess every requisite 

 for their successful propagation. The 

 usual cause of failure has been improper 

 treatment of the seed between the time 

 of harvesting and sowing, resulting in 

 loss of vitality. When growing natur- 

 ally, the ripe seeds fall directly into the 

 water, where they sink, and, being pro- 

 vided with barbed beaks, penetrate deep- 

 er and deeper into the muck surrounding 

 the roots of the parent plant. There they 

 lie through the winter. They may ger- 

 minate in spring, or they may lie prac- 

 tically dormant through still another cold 

 season. The seeds therefore remain wet 

 until ready to sprout; they are exposed 

 to currents of water, are not in close con- 

 tact with each other, and are not sub- 

 jected to very high temperatures. To suc- 

 ceed with wild rice it is necessary only to 

 imitate nature's methods. Keeping large 



tit is reported without definite locality from 

 Newfoundland. 



quantities of the seed in close contact 

 often causes fermentation, but this can 

 be prevented by cold storage. 



So far as propagation depends on the 

 preservation of the vitality of the seed, 

 the methods* so carefully worked out 

 by the Bureau of Plant Industry insure 

 success. Several seed firms now handle 

 wild rice properly, and will deliver it in 

 either spring or fall as desired. The 

 grain is kept wet and in cold storage and 

 when shipped is packed in damp moss 

 or fiber. 



"Sometimes when the stand of wild rice 

 has become reduced, it is advisable to„ 

 prevent consumption by ducks by har- 

 vesting the grain and then sowing it after 

 the spring migration. Because the seeds 

 of wild rice ripen and drop off a few 

 at a time, the seed must be collected 

 every day or so, or the heads must be 

 bunched and tied, so as to prevent the 

 loss of seed. The grain may perhaps 

 be allowed to stand a short time in cold 

 water (if the water is changed daily)! 

 But when the whole crop has been gath- 

 ered, it should be placed at once in cold 

 storage at a temperature just above 

 freezing, or from 32 degrees to 34 de- 

 grees Fahrenheit, but still exposed to the 

 air in an open cask or vat. 



In cold climates seed may sometimes 

 be perfectly preserved by improvised 

 methods. For instance, wild rice seed 

 kept out of doors and covered with water 

 which was changed daily during the win- 

 ter except when frozen, germinated very 

 satisfactorily. It has been stored also 

 in partly filled burlap bags among which 

 blocks of ice were placed and the whole 

 covered with sawdust and kept wet. But 

 usually, where cold storage is not avail- 

 able, it is better to buy seed from a re- 

 liable firm. 



Where to plant. — Wild rice thrives 

 best upon a mud bottom (though it has 

 been known to grow in sand) ; this may 

 be underlain by various soils, but there 

 should be a layer of mud at least from 2 

 to 4 inches deep and preferably deeper. 



*The southern Zizaniopsis, with flower and 

 grain superficially much like Zizania, does not 

 have the flower head as a whole divided into 

 pistillate and staminate parts, and the grain is 

 short and without beak. 



