12 
BULLETIN 205, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Transportation should be as rapid as possible and the young trees 
should be set out or heeled in immediately upon receipt. Transplant- 
ing should be done when the trees are leafless. 
SWAMP PRIVET. 
VALUE AS DUCK FOOD. 
The swamp privet is included principally on account of the testi- 
mony of numerous hunters as to its usefulness. Wood ducks in 
particular are said to feed extensively upon its seeds. Weeks before 
other species of ducks arrive these birds are abundant in the country 
where swamp privet grows and are said to consume most of the 
crop of seeds, leaving 
little for other ducks. 
The seeds have been 
found in numerous 
mallard stomachs, but 
in quantity in only 
one. 
DESCRD7TION OF PLANT. 
Swamp privet (For- 
estiera acuminata) or 
bois blanc, found in 
the same kinds of lo- 
calities as the water 
elm, is a smooth- 
barked shrub (some- 
times a small tree) 
usually with drooping 
steins, which fre- 
quently take root at 
FIG. in.— Leaves of swamp privet. 
the tip. The smooth, light-green leaves (fig. 10) are opposite, oval, 
taper-pointed at both ends, and with rounded serrations which are 
more prominent on the apical half. The fruit of swamp privet is a 
blue watery berry from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length. 
Greatly subject to insect attack, it is usually distorted. The pit is 
nearly as long as the berry, pointed at both ends, and has numerous 
lengthwise, fibrous ridges. The seed within is white and smooth. 
The flowers, borne in clusters, bloom in March and April, and the 
fruit is ripe in May and June. 
As is the case with seeds of the water elm, those of the swamp 
privet may remain under water for a long period without apparent 
deterioration. Probably most of the seeds are exposed by the annual 
lowering of the water level and germinate the summer they are pro- 
duced. (See fig. 11.) Whether those which fall in deeper water ever 
