114 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Fig. 2.— Duckweeds: a, b, Spi'rodela; c, d, Lerrma: e, f, Wolffia: g, h, 

 Wolfflella, 



eter, and are often abundant among other 

 duckweeds or about the margins of lakes 

 and ponds. When the hand is dipped 

 into the water large numbers of the 

 plants adhere to it. They look like 

 coarse meal, except for their green color, 

 and feel like it, so that a good name for 

 them would be water meal. 



The other genus of rootless duck- 

 weeds {Wolffiella) consists of strap- 

 shaped plants (fig. 2, g, h), narrowed at 

 one or both ends. They are from one- 

 fifth to three-fifths of an inch in length 

 and commonly cohere in radiate bodies 

 or in large masses of less definite struc- 

 ture. 



Duckweeds are known also as duck's 

 meat, water lentils, and seed moss. The 

 latter term, in fact, is used in Arkansas 

 to cover all components of the vegeta- 

 tion of the water surface. Besides duck- 



weeds, this mass includes that green or 

 red, velvety, mosslike plant, Azolla caro- 

 liniana, and the branching straplike liver- 

 worts, Ricciella. Both of these are eaten 

 by waterfowl along with the duckweeds, 

 but being less plentiful are of minor 

 importance. 



Most of the species of duckweeds are 

 wide ranging. Of the single-rooted kind 

 {Lenvna, fig. 2, c, d), three species occur 

 throughout the United States, two others 

 are confined to the southern part, and one 

 to the eastern. The one many-rooted 

 species {Spvrodela, fig. 2, a, h), is of 

 universal distribution. The granule-like 

 rootless forms {Wolffia, fig. 2, e, /), so 

 far as known, are confined to the eastern 

 half of the country, and the straplike 

 rootless species {Wolffiella, fig. 2, g, h) 

 to the southeastern quarter. 



The seeds of duckweeds are minute 

 and seldom mature. The plants, there- 

 fore, must be transplanted bodily. There 

 is no difficulty about this, for if they 

 are not crushed or allowed to ferment or 

 dry, duckweeds are perfectly at home 

 from the moment they are placed in a 

 new body of water. Fermentation may 

 be prevented by shipping in small units 

 freely exposed to the air. Plants which 

 are to be transported a long distance 

 should be iced. 



It is useless to put duckweeds in large 

 open bodies of water. They thrive best 

 in small pools and ditches where the 

 water surface is rarely disturbed. In 

 ponds entirely surrounded by forest 

 growth and wooded swamps, duckweeds 

 also abound, but they are equally at home 

 in small pools and other openings among 

 the reeds and sedges of marshes. They 

 are strictly fresh-water plants. 



A LETTER FROM TENNESSEE. 



C. LOVETT. 



I never like to estimate how many 

 birds I am going to raise. The inclosed 

 picture will lend emphasis to my remark. 

 It was taken on a rearing field in Colo- 

 rado after a fifteen-minute cloudburst. 

 We had just finished rescue work. You 



will note the coops floating upside down 

 and the hens perched on top to prevent 

 drowning. It is only one of many un- 

 expected incidents encountered in game 

 preserving. 



I can raise pheasants and other game 



