PKOPAGATION OF WILD-DUCK FOODS. 9 
where there is much current or change in the level of the water, 
although it grows abundantly on tide flats. It is not adapted to 
entirely stagnant water. 
It may also be added that the salt-water limits of wild rice maybe deter- 
mined 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. 1 
From 4 inches to 6 feet of water are about the limits of its usual 
occurrence, and it does best in from 1 to 3 feet. In shallow water 
it may be killed by heat in summer, so it is best, in southern localities 
especially, to sow the seed in not less than 2 feet of water. 
How to plant. — The least possible time must intervene between 
removal from cold storage and sowing. Broadcast sowing answers 
every purpose, and the seed should be thickly sown, as, when near 
together, the growing plants support each other, the root anchorage 
is protected, and a good stand is more likely to result than if the seed 
is more widely scattered. 
When to plant. — Fall has usually been considered the most desir- 
able time for sowing, but it has been proved that seed sown in spring 
will bring a full crop, and for several reasons spring sowing is usually 
advisable. Where seed has been sown in fall, the bottom may freeze 
and the seed be carried off by the ice in spring. Ducks and other 
waterfowl, as well as some fishes, eat the seed, and the less it is ex- 
posed to their depredations the more abundant will be the crop. 
Seed is likely also to be buried by depositions of mud, or swept away 
by currents, especially in freshets. These dangers may be avoided 
by sowing late enough in spring to avoid the worst spring freshets, 
but in time to get the benefit of the first good growing weather ; that 
is, when the temperature of the water approaches 60° F. 
WILD CELERY. 
VALUE AS DUCK FOOD. 
The names wild celery (V allisneria spiralis) and canvas-back duck 
have been closely associated in the annals of American sport. To a 
certain extent this association is justified, since the canvas-back evi- 
dently is very fond of the subterranean propagating buds of this 
plant. However, the assertion that the flavor of the canvas-back is 
superior to that of any other duck and that this depends on a diet of 
wild celery is not proved, to say the least. The scaups, or bluebills, 
and the redhead also are very fond of wild celery, and are fully as 
capable of getting the delicious buds as is the canvas-back. Several 
other ducks get more or less of this food, the writer finding that even 
the scoters on a Wisconsin lake in fall lived almost exclusively on it 
1 Scofleld, C. S., Bull. 72, Bureau of Plant Industry, Pt. II, p. 8. 1905. 
61718°— Bull. 465— 17 2 
