186 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 25, 1905. 
iiess of going any further in company with an aurora 
borealis,_ and took him back to camp. 
"On the morrow a compromise was eflfected, and he 
agreed to part with the sweater. During the day we 
saw a large bull and cow arise to their feet within short 
range. The bull's head was behind a tree and he didn't 
see us. I told my companion guide to draw a bead on 
his hindlegs and not let him get away, placed the hunter 
so that he could see the whole of the animal's side, in- 
structed him to shoot as soon as possible, and I cov- 
ered the forequarters. Well, we waited and waited and 
iwaited. My rifle barrel began to wobble, when, hearing 
a shot, I pulled the trigger. The moose was down, and 
on looking around I was astonished to find that the 
hunter had not yet discharged his gun. My assistant 
explained that his left eye was getting paralyzed and 
his arms so tired that he couldn't keep the moose cov- 
ered any longer, and had to shoOt when he did or not 
at all. ^ We led the hunter to the animal, and he then 
shot him. No doubt this fine head will soon be dis- 
played as a result of only three days' hunt in the New 
Brunswick forest, and men who have failed, maybe 
more than once, notwithstanding their probable hard 
work, will look at it and wonder how an apparent green 
hunter (in reality a red and yellow one) of such a 
mould could so completely outflank them." 
LiPPINCOTT. 
Baltimore, Nov. 31, 1904. 
Salt Water Limits of Wild Rice,* 
BY CARL S. SCOFIELD, BOTANIST IN CHARGE OF GRAIN GRADE 
INVESTIGATIONS — IN AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT BULLETIN. 
Wild rice (Zisania aquatica L.) is naturally a fresh- 
water plant, and its growth along the Atlantic Coast of 
the United States is confined for the most part to sluggish 
streams or to those deep estuaries that are diluted by a 
large amount of fresh water. There are in many of these 
Streams and estuaries large areas of marsh lands or mud 
flats that are submerged and exposed alternately by the 
tide. Wherever the water is sufficiently fresh, such condi- 
tions are almost ideal for its growth, and in many places 
large wild rice fields now exist, but there are still other 
places of similar nature where the plant is not found, and 
where attempts to establish it have been made without 
success. These failures have been ascribed usually to the 
poor quality of the seed used in planting, and probably 
this has been one of the important causes. 
An investigation undertaken two years ago.t in co- 
operation with the Seed Laboratory of this Department, 
demonstrated the fact that wild rice seed should never be- 
come dry if its vitality is to be preserved. It was also 
shown that this seed can be gathered and stored over win- 
ter, if need be, provided it is kept in water that is very 
cold, and well aerated or frequently changed, or even 
frozen. 
From numerous letters received during the year from 
various points along the coast, it has become evident that 
not all previous failures were due to the lack of vitality 
of the seed. It has_ been a well recognized fact that wild 
rice will not grow in salt water; that is, in water as salt 
as that of the ocean; but just what its salt water limits 
are seems never to have been determined, or at least no 
definite information on this point is available. It was 
obvious from the nature of the inquiries received that 
some such information was needed, and consequently 
some investigations have been made near Washington, 
where wild rice grows along streams flowing into Chesa- 
peakte Bay. Three separate regions were examined, and 
two of these gave excellent opportunities for determining 
the salt water limits of the plant. 
As wild rice is a thoroughly aquatic plant — that is, 
grows on soil entirely submerged for at least a part of the 
day during its period of growth — the tests for salinity 
were confined to the water surrounding the plants. The 
difficulties attendant upon determining the quantity of 
water involved in cases of soil samples threatened to com- 
plicate the investigation without adding materially to the 
results desired. 
The Method of Testing Salinity. 
The salt content of the water was determined by means 
of an electrolytic bridge designed by Dr. Lyman J. Briggs, 
of the Bureau of Soils of this Department, and such as is 
now in general use by that Bureau. The principle in- 
volved in the use of this instrument is that with a given 
temperature the electrical conductivity of the water in- 
creases with the amount of salt in solution, or, conversely, 
the electrical resistance of the water decreases as its 
salinity increases. The instrument is compact, portable, 
and simple of operation, and gives results that are ac- 
curate to a high degree and capable of almost direct read- 
ing. All the difficulties involved in securing a large 
number of samples and making numerous laboratory 
analyses are, therefore, obviated, and a survey of any 
locality may be made and the salt content of the water 
determined on the spot, where such information is of the 
greatest value in interpreting the distribution of the 
plants studied. 
The regions surveyed were visited by boat and the 
water was examined both where the wild rice grew vigor- 
ously and where its growth was obviously inhibited by the 
excessive salt content of the water. A special form of 
cell, designed by Doctor Briggs for use in testing irriga- 
tion water, was found best adapted to this work. This 
cell consists of two platinum terminals, coated with 
*\\'ild rice is one of the favorite foods of wild ducks and other 
game birds in the eastern United States, and owners of shoot- 
ing preserves desire to plant it in order to increase the richness 
of their feeding grounds and thereby attract larg^e numbers of 
birds. Plantings heretofore made have often proved failures, 
particularly in brackish waters along the seacoast. The cause of 
failure under these circumstances have been two — the use of seed 
which had been so dried in the curing process as to destroy its 
vitality, and an excess of salt in the water, by reason of which 
either the seeds or the young plants were killed. A method 
of harvesting and curing which would insure vitality in wild rice 
seed has already been described in Bulletin No. 50 of the Bureau 
of Plant Industry. In the present paper are recorded the results 
of an inquiry into the degree of salinity which the plants will 
withstand. This information will make it possible to ascertain in 
advance, by a determination of the salinity of a particular body 
of water, whether wild rice planting can or cannot succeed. 
Frederick V. Coville, 
Botanist, 
Ofisce of Botanical Investigations and Experiments, 
Washington, D. C, Nov. 30, 1904. 
tSee Bulletin No. 50 of the Burelau 01 flant Industry, "Wild 
Bfce; Its Uses and Propagation^" * " ' - 
platmum black, and protected by a perforated hard rub- 
ber bulb. The cell is attached to the bri-dge by insulated 
leads and immersed in the water to be tested. The bridge 
readmgs are given in ohms and a calibration by measur- 
mg the resistance of solutions of known concentration 
suffices to transfer these readings Into the scale of per- 
centages by Aveight or parts, of a normal solution, as 
desired. : 
In the folk wing notes the instrument readings are used 
largely, while in the accompanying table the relations of 
those readings to both the percentage scale and parts of a 
normal solution are given. 
The Regions Investigated, 
The first region investigated was that of the Potomac 
River between the city of Washington and Chesapeake 
Bay. Wild rice was reported as abundant in the deep in- 
lets or so-called rivers penetrating both shores of the 
Potomac near its mouth. It was found, however, that 
these inlets receive so little fresh water in proportion to 
their size that the water in them is approximately as salty 
as that of Chesapeake Bay, and they contained" no wild 
rice. There were, however, many clusters and even small 
fields of salt reed grass {Spartina polystachya (Michx.) 
Ell.), and also of the narrow panicum (Panicum digt- 
tarioides Carpenter) that may possibly have been mis- 
taken for Zizania by casual observation from a distance. 
There was some wild rice growing along the shores of 
the Potomac River below Washington as far down as 
Widewater, Va., near which point the water becomes 
salty; but the growth was so scattering and so obviously 
influenced by factors other than the salinity of the water, 
that no opportunity was found to test the limiting condi- 
tions with respect to this factor. 
The second region investigated was at the head of a 
deep inlet from Chesapeake Bay, northeast of Baltimore, 
Md. This inlet is known as the Gunpowder River. It 
receives fresh water from two small streams known as 
the Gunpowder Falls and the Little Gunpowder. These 
streams annually carry out and deposit in the head of the 
inlet large quantities of mud, through which several nar- 
row channels are kept open by the current. The mud 
flats thus formed are submerged to the depth of a foot or 
more at flood tide and exposed by several inches at low 
tide. _ 
This annual mud deposit is gradually filling up the 
inlet, and over the land thus made the progress of vegeta- 
tion is to be seen in well-marked stages. The first plant 
to appear is pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata L.). These 
usually grow on the freshly deposited mud and doubtless 
aid greatly in holding it in place. These plants are fol- 
lowed by wild rice in isolated clusters which give seed 
enough to produce a dense and luxuriant growth the year 
following. Meanwhile, additional deposits of silt, together 
with the debris from the large stems of the wild rice 
plants, have transformed these soft mud flats into firm 
land, and the wild rice is gradually replaced by cat-tails 
(Typha latifolia L.) and various species of sedges and 
grasses. 
_ The combined volume of the two streams above men- 
tioned is sufficient to dilute the otherwise salty water of 
the Gunpowder River for a considerable distance out over 
the mud flats, and, so far as could be ascertained by care- 
ful observation, all other conditions are sufficiently uni- 
form so that the spread of the wild rice into the river is 
limited only by the salinity of the water. In other words, 
conditions at the head of the Gunpowder River appear to 
be such that the salt water limits of the, pa^fticular variety 
of wild rice growing there can be definitely measured. 
There is, of course, the universal complication of tide 
movement,^ with the result that the concentration varies 
at any point in the critical zone as the tide alternately 
rises and falls. While the measurements of salinity were 
not continued at a given point in this zone throughout a 
complete cycle of tide movement, they were made for a 
sufficiently long period to give an approximate idea of the 
range of concentration. 
The_ conformation of the mud flats and channels at this 
point is such that there is very little actual inflow of tide 
water over the rice fields. The incoming tide is little more 
than sufficient to stop the outflowing fresh water, even in 
the open channels, so that the concentration at any point 
within the wild rice field is practically the same at flood 
tide as when the tide has more than half run out. 
At the mouths of the two streams mentioned, the Gun- 
powder Falls and the Little Gunpowder, the water at the 
beginning of ebb tide gave about 1,400 ohms resistance. 
Out beyond this point were the large fields of wild rice 
cut by open channels. Among the most luxuriant growth 
of wild rice, where the water was practically stagnant, the 
resistance^ was about 300 ohms, varying from 275 to 325 
ohms at different points. 
On the outer edge of the wild rice field and in the chan- 
nels near this edge at flood tide, the resistance was 150 
ohms or less, while the open water outside- of the field 
gave a resistance as low as 125 ohms. This latter reading 
corresponds to a 0.03 normal solution of sodium chloride, 
and at this point evidently marked the limits of the resist- 
ance of wild rice to- salt water. 
The third region investigated was the Patuxent River 
in Maryland, from Chesapeake Bay to the head of naviga- 
tion, which is Leon's Landing, a point just north of where 
the Chesapeake Beach Railroad crosses this river. 
The Patuxent River, for a considerable distance above 
its mouth, is very wide in proportion to the volume of 
water it contributes to Chesapeake Bay, so that it does 
not form the conventional delta. As a result the tide is 
very pronounced, as the stream narrows to the propor- 
tions necessary to deliver its water, and the line between ■ 
fresh and salt water shifts for a long distance with each 
tide. 
This action of the large tide movement considerably 
complicated the task of measuring the concentration of 
the water with which the plants along the stream are 
actually surrounded. It was found, however, that the 
wild rice plants, especially those along the lower part of 
the river where the salt content was fairly high, are so 
situated that they have a minimum of actual water move- 
ment past them. In other words, where the conditions 
are such that the salt content of the river water at high 
tide is considerably greater than that to which the wild 
rice is accustomed, the plants along this portion of the 
stream were surrounded by water considerably fresher 
than that of the stream itself. The maximum concentra- 
tion in which rice plants \yere found extensively? 
growing in the lower river was about 0.03 of a norma! 
solution of sodium chloride, equivalent to a resistance of 
125 ohms. Occasional plants were found, however, where 
the resistance was as low as 60 ohms, but these were- so 
situated that they were doubtless surrounded a 'large part 
of the time by water ;much fresher than this. This latter 
test was made shortly after high tide, and the plants were 
found in a little cove of slack water. It is probable this 
represents nearly the maximum concentration to which 
the plants were exposed. 
A careful survey of the river below this point—White's 
Landing — failed to show any quantity of wild rice. There 
were occasional plants further down the river, but always 
in situations well inland, that were probably fed by 
springs, so that the water of the overflow was consider- 
ably diluted. From White's Landing on up the river the 
concentration pf the water diminished rapidly, and the 
rnud flats on either shore produced an abundance of wild 
rice. In fact, from Nottingham north to the head of 
navigation, wild rice is the most conspicuous feature of 
the vegetation bordering the river. 
Concltjsions. 
_ From the surveys thus made in the vicinity of Wash- 
ington, it seems fair to assume that the salt water limit 
of wild rice is approximately represented by 0.03 of the 
normal solution of sodium chloride. This is very con- 
siderably less than the concentration of the water of 
Chesapeake Bay, which has a resistance of about 20 ohms, 
or a concentration equivalent to about 0.28 of a normal 
solution of sodium chloride. It is also obvious that this 
represents about the maximum salt water resistance of the 
species in the regions examined, since the growth along 
the limiting zone is abundant, and in the nature of the 
case the whole tendency is toward the selection of plants 
able to resist higher concentrations. The streams along 
which these plants grow on the Atlantic Coast usually 
flow into salt water. Nearly all of them carry down large 
deposits of mud and form shallow deltas which give 
physical conditions best adapted to the plant, and any 
individuals^ able to succeed in saltier water would con- 
siderably aid the species in its conquest of territory. 
When therefore, the question of establishing cultures of 
wild rice along the coast streams is being considered, it 
is highly important that the concentration of the water 
covering these areas be determined, for this appears to be 
the factor of the greatest importance in ascertaining the 
possibility of establishing such cultures. 
_ It may also be added that the salt water limits of wild 
rice may be determined 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. 
Table showing the relation between the readings of the testing 
cell used in the above surveys and the parts of a normal, and 
the percentage by weight solutions of sodium chlorid; also 
the relation of these concentrations to the growth of wild rice. 
Resistance of Parts of a Percentage Notes 
water in cell normal solu- solution of 
at 80° F. tion of NaCl. NaCl. 
20 0.2800 1.6380 Concentsation of Chesa- 
peake Bay; no wild rice. 
GO 0.0640 0.3740 Limit of occasional 
plants ; excessive for 
successful growth. 
125 0.0300 0.1755 Limit of wild rice growth ; 
slight taste of salt in 
water 
250 0.0140 0.0820 Luxuriant growth of 
wild rice; no taste of 
salt in water. 
,1,400 . 0.0027 0.0158 Water at the mouth of 
Gunpowder Falls; abun- 
ant wild rice. 
3,700 0.0010 0.0058 - Water of the upper 
Patuxent and Potomac 
rivers; abundant wild 
rice. 
According to this test the water of Chesapeake Bay is con- 
siderably fresher than that of the Atlantic Ocean. 
Tanawadeh Outing Club, 
What proved to be one of the most enjoyable occasions 
in the history of the Tanawadeh Outing Club, was the 
dinner given by that organization on the evening of Feb- 
ruary 9, at the St. Denis Hotel, in this city, in honor of 
the retiring president, Mr. F. James Reilly, who has just 
completed two of the most successful terms in office since 
the club was organized, in 1896. The entire membership 
ftf the club, with the exception of Cadet John F. Curry, 
now a student at West Point, were in attendance. A 
letter of regret was read from Cadet Curry, written from 
the United States Military Academy. 
Harry V. Radford, chairman of the presentation com- 
mittjee, presided. At his right sat _ Ex-President Reilly; 
at his left, the newly elected president, J. Frank Case. 
It was a game dinner. The menus were handsome and 
appropriate. At one side of the list of viands was an 
oval medallion containing the portrait of the guest of 
honor, and surrounding this a medley of all the special 
accoutrements dear to the hearts of sportsmen, such as 
rifle, paddle, snowshoes, trap, rod, reel, creel, etc. Below 
the portrait medallion were the words : "Dinner given by 
the Tanawadeh Outing Club in honor of F. James Reilly, 
Fourth President, upon his completion of two terms in 
office, Jan. i, 1903-Dec. 31, 1904, Hotel St. Denis, New 
York, Feb. 9, 1905." The menu was printed in four 
colors. 
At the end of the meal, and when cigars had been 
lighted, Mr. Radford proposed the health of "our well- 
beloved guest of honor, Ex-President Reilly;" then intro 
duced Mr. Charles U. Stepath, who, he said, would 
furtlier express the pleasure of the club in having their 
former president with them. In a very neat speech Mr, 
Stepath gave expression to the high esteem in which Ex- 
President Reilly is held by the club, and told how, during 
his two years' administration, he had endeared himself to 
each member individually, not only by the many self- 
sacrifices he had made in the interests of the club, which 
had now become one of the most prominent of its kind in 
the country, but also by the frequent individual kind- 
nesses he had showered upon all, and his broad spirit of 
the finest good fellowship which had actuated and sur- 
rounded his every official act, and made of his administra- 
tion the distinguished success that it had been. Then, in 
the name of the club, he presented Mr. Reilly with a 
splendidly wrought .44 caliber Winchester repeating rifle 
and sole leather carrying case. 
The rifle, which is a superb specimen of workmanship, 
was constructed especially for the club by the Wincliester 
