STORAGE AND GERMINATION OF WILD RICE SEED. 7 



GERMINATION OF THE SEED. 



The greatest difficultly to be overcome in extending the area for 

 growing wild rice is the poor germination of the commercial seed. 

 Inasmuch as wild rice constitutes one of the most important foods of 

 wild ducks and other wild waterfowl, many individuals and most of 

 the gunning clubs east of the Rocky Mountains have been asking the 

 question, How can we propagate wild rice from seed in order to estab- 

 lish better feeding and fattening grounds for our game birds ? 



The many failures in the propagation of wild rice from seed have 

 been due to the use of seed that had become dry before sowing, or to 

 the fact that the seed when sown fresh in the autumn had been eaten 

 b}^ ducks or other animals or was carried away by heavy floods before 

 germination took place. 



It is now very generally known that the. seed of wild rice, if once 

 allowed to become dry, will not germinate, save possibly an occasional 

 grain. In its natural habitat the seed, as soon as mature, falls into the 

 water and sinks into the mud beneath, where it remains during the 

 winter months, germinating the following spring* if conditions are 

 favorable. 



Heretofore the plan generally followed, and the one usually recom- 

 mended by those who have given some attention to the propagation of 

 wild rice, was practically that of natural seeding; that is, to gather the 

 seed in the autumn, as soon as thorough^ mature, and, while still fresh, 

 to sow it in 1 to 3 feet of water. 



FALL SEEDING VERSUS SPRING SEEDING. 



It must be remembered that the bulk of the seed remains dormant 

 during the winter, germinating first the spring after maturing; con- 

 sequently, with but few exceptions, fall seeding is unsatisfactory and 

 unreliable. Fall seeding is likely to prove a failure for three reasons: 

 (1) Wild ducks and other animals of various kinds eat or destroy the 

 seed in considerable quantit} T before it has had time to germinate the 

 following spring; (2) much of the seed is frequentl} T covered so deeply 

 with mud that washes in from the shore during the winter that the 

 young plants die of suffocation and starvation before they reach the 

 surface; (3) in some cases a large quantity of the seed is carried away 

 from the place where sown by the high waters and floating ice prev- 

 alent during the latter part of the winter and early spring. 



In exceptional cases these difficulties can be overcome; under which 

 circumstances autumn sowing may be preferable to spring sowing. 

 In the majority of cases, however, much better results will be 

 obtained if the seed is properly stored and sown in the early spring, 

 as soon as the danger of heavy floods is passed and the water level 

 approaches normal. 



16976— No. 90—06 2 



