892 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 8, 1907. 
Duck Food. 
V&llisneria and Wild Rice. 
[It will be remembered that some months ago 
announcement was made of the purchase of St. 
Vincent Island near Apalachicola, Honda, by 
Dr R V. Pierce, who purposes to make a game 
preserve of the island. Last spring -Dr. Pierce 
published in Forest and Stream a note of in¬ 
quiry asking about the propagation of vallisneria, 
and the following letter on the cultivation ot 
duck foods tells us what he has learned on the 
subject. The remarks at the end of the letter, 
while very true, hardly seem to us to emphasize 
sufficiently the actual importance, of keeping wet 
wild rice seed, from the time it is gathered until 
it is sown. All the experiments that have been 
made with the seed of this plant seem to show 
that if allowed to dry, the seed loses its vitality 
in a large measure. If the seed is to be kept 
in cold storage it should be thoroughly wet be¬ 
fore being stored, but we do not know why cold 
storage is needed. Kept in a barrel and covered 
with water we know of no reason why the seed 
should not retain its vitality. It is true how¬ 
ever, that in a very warm climate it might pos¬ 
sibly sprout too early. We shall hope to hear 
more on the subject of Dr. Pierce's experiments. 
—Editor.] 
St. Vincent Island, Fla., May 25 .—Editor 
f orest and Stream: My query, which you kindly 
published as to the successful propagation of the 
Vallisneria spiralis, or wild celery, from its seed 
brought me a variety of answers, the general 
consensus of opinion being that it may be so 
propagated, if proper care be taken to get good 
'seed and to plant it while it is fresh and where 
it will have the proper environment. It seems 
to be the opinion of some that it will not grow 
an any thing but purely fresh water, while others 
are just as positive that it will only grow in 
hrackish water. My inference, therefore, is that 
It will grow well in either purely fresh or quite 
brackish water, and I believe all were agreed, 
so far as they expressed an opinion, that it will 
not grow at all in sea water. . 
I shall, therefore, proceed during the early 
part of next month to plant a considerable quan¬ 
tity of the roots of the vallisneria in the fresh 
water ponds of this island and also in some of 
hose where the water is more or less brackish, 
but avoid planting it in those where the water 
is, in my judgment, as determined from the cor¬ 
respondence referred to, too strongly impreg¬ 
nated with salt for the plants to do well. 
I am assured by Henry A. Dreer, of 714 Lhest- 
nut street, Philadelphia, of whom I obtain the 
roots or plants, that, put out now, the plants 
should bloom the coming summer and bear seed 
by October, which may then be picked and sown 
broadcast in the ponds on the borders of which, 
in from one to two feet of water, the roots are 
to be planted. , .. 
While I have not been able to discover any 
vallisneria growing in any of the interior lakes 
of this island of which there are probably not 
less than twenty-five or thirty, many of them 
from one-half to one-third of. a mile long and 
from one-eighth to one-half mile wide, yet hun¬ 
dreds of canvasback duck feed during, a good 
part of the fall and winter months m these 
ponds, but always in those the. waters of which 
are considerably brackish, while teal, sprigtai , 
mallards and a great variety of duck feed mostly 
in the fresh water lakes. 
I am taking steps to plant the fresh water 
lakes with wild rice ( Zizania aquatica), and heie 
ao-ain I am confronted with some difficulties, in 
the northern latitudes where the lakes and ponds 
freeze up, and often remain frozen during the 
late fall and winter months, I understand the 
best results are obtained by sowing the seed of 
the wild rice just before the ponds freeze over 
and about the time the last of the . ducks have 
departed for their more southern winter homes. 
The seed thus sown germinates and grows the 
following spring. 
Now it would not do at all to sow the wild 
rice here in the autumn, for our lakes and ponds 
are literally alive with 1 waterfowl from October 
until well into the spring, and they would pick 
up very closely any seed that might be sown 
while they are about. . 
I am advised that the wild rice will not ger¬ 
minate well, if at all, after it has been long dry, 
and if this be so, manifestly it would not work 
successfully to get the dried seed in October 
when it is usually gathered by the Indians m 
the rice lakes-of Canada and keeping the seed 
dry all winter expect to raise a crop from sow¬ 
ing the dried seed in the spring time after the 
ducks have left these parts. 
General E. P. Alexander, who owns one ot 
the very finest game preserves in all the south, 
situated near Georgetown, S. C., where ducks 
are most abundant and where, by the way, he 
has annually, I believe, for the past fifteen years, 
had the pleasure of entertaining that prince of 
sportsmen, my former fellow townsman, Grover 
Cleveland, writes me that he has had fairly good 
results by obtaining the wild rice in the fall and 
keeping it in cold storage during the winter and 
sowing it in the spring after the waterfowl have 
left on their northern flight. He thinks, how¬ 
ever, that he would have had still better success 
had he kept the seed quite wet while in cold 
storage, and that it was due to their becoming 
too dry that only about one-tenth of the seed 
germinated. 
I feel very much interested in the propagation 
of aquatic vegetation that will afford the very 
best food for all kinds of waterfowl, and I have 
no doubt many among your large number of 
readers might offer vauable suggestions along 
these lines, based upon real experience, which, 
after all, is the best teacher. I would be much 
interested in hearing from such, and I have no 
doubt there are many others who might profit 
from such information and would be thankful 
therefor. . 
Both of the aquatic plants mentioned above 
grow over a great range of latitude, and I have 
no doubt may be successfully propagated here 
in northern Florida if properly managed. While 
we have-quite a variety of vegetation growing 
in our lakes, ponds, bays and rivers 111 this re¬ 
gion upon which duck and wild geese feed, yet 
I am quite sure that among them all, none are 
to be found that compare at all favorably with 
the Vallisneria spiralis and the Zizania aquatica 
in affording food for the choicer varieties of 
I am in hopes of receiving valuable informa¬ 
tion along the above suggested lines. 
R. V. Pierce. 
Copyright, 190 ( 5 , by Harper & Brothers 'Tom “ Nature s Craftsmen.. 
larval cairns or domiciles of net-making caddis worm. 
The Cedarbird. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some observations on the cedarbird (wax¬ 
wing) may not be without interest for some of 
your readers. 
This little bird, to my perceptions, is the most 
beautiful of all the bird family. There is a re¬ 
finement of daintiness in his character and make 
up that places him in a class all by himself,. m 
which he is not approached by any other bird 
known to me. Clothed in a suit of the finest 
silk, with a blending of delicate shades of color, , 
set off by the blackest of velvet, with wax- hke 
coral tips to the wing coverts and bright yellow 
margins to the tail feathers, together with his 
general air of gentility and refinement, all com¬ 
bine in a tout ensemble that surpasses in loveli¬ 
ness all other species of the feathered tribe. 
The cedarbird is closely associated with tie 
robin in his migratory movements, both reach¬ 
ing this latitude after leaving their summer homes 
in the New England orchards, in the late autumn, 
and both distributing themselves throughout the 
deep and remote forest regions to fatten all win¬ 
ter on the numerous berries there to be found. 
In the spring, when the orchards are beginning 
to bloom and to send out tender buds, the 
cedarbird assembles in flocks of from a couple ot 
dozen to fifty, or even a hundred. He then, like 
the robin, comes out of the woods and resorts 
to the vicinity of human habitations, spending 
a few davs or weeks picking the buds on apple 
and pear'trees in the gardens and orchards, pre¬ 
paratory to his northern flight to his breeding 
&1 A U few days ago while strolling along the bank 
of the Sunflower River (Miss.), the familiar notes 
of the cedarbird came to my ears, and as always, 
arrested my attention; the more so on this occas¬ 
ion because these birds appeared to be lingering 
