they purchase great quantities from the savages; and that at an establishment on Red Cedar Lake, near the Mississippi in the 47th degree of latitude, they give one dollar and fifty cents per bushel for it. The Menomeni, a nation of indians inhabiting on the northwest of Lake Michigan, are called, by the french, Fols Avoins, from this plant, which grows in great plenty among them. Henry, in his Travels in Canada and the Indian Territories, bought wild rice at Lake Sagunai in great abundance; he says it grows in shoal water, and the indians gather it by shaking the ears into canoes. Hennepin says, that among the fols avoins it appears above the water in June, and is gathered in September, and that it produces more meal than european oats. Mackenzie asserts, that the indians, on Lake Sagenuja, depend principally for food upon fish, and wild rice which grows spontaneously in these parts; that there is abundance of it on the banks of a small river which runs into the Lake of the Woods, about the latitude of 49 degrees; that from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipic, in latitude 50 degrees 37 minutes, “are vast quantities of rice, which the natives collect in August for their winter stores. To the north of 50 degrees it is hardly known, or at least does not come to maturity;" that the country between Lake Superior and the Mississippi was formerly very populous, and produced wild rice in great plenty. Mackenzie's Voyages, Preface.

Carver, in his travels through North America, states, that the fox river is ren dered remarkable by the abundance of wild rice that grows on its shores, and that this grain, which grows in the greatest plenty throughout the interior parts of North America, is the most valuable of all the spontaneous productions of that country. Exclusive of its utility, as a supply of food, for those of the human species who inhabit this part of the continent, and obtained without any other trouble than that of gathering it in, the sweetness and nutritious quality of it attract an infinite number of wild fowls of every kind, which flock from distant climes to enjoy this rare repast, and by it become inexpressibly fat and delicious. In future periods it will be of great service to the infant colonies, as it will afford them a present support, until, in the course of cultivation, other supplies may be produced; whereas, in those realms which are not furnished with this bounteous gift of nature, even if the climate is temperate and the soil good, the first settlers are often exposed to great hardships from the want of an immediate resource for necessary food. This useful grain grows in the water, where it is about two feet deep, and where it finds a rich muddy soil. The stalks of it, and the branches or ears, that bear the seed, resemble oats, both in the appearance and manner of growing. The stalks are full of joints, and rise more than eight feet above the water. The natives gather the grain in the following manner: nearly about the time that it begins to turn from its milky state, and to ripen, they run their ca noes into the midst of it, and tying branches of it together just below the ears,

R

with bark, leave it in this situation three or four weeks longer, until it is perfectly ripe. About the latter end of September they return to the river, when each family, having its separate allotment, and being able to distinguish their own property by the manner of fastening the sheaves, gather in the portion that belongs to them. This they do by placing their canoes close to the branches of rice in such position as to receive the grain when it falls, and then beat it out with pieces of wood formed for that purpose. Having done this, they dry it with smoke, and afterwards tread, or rub off the outside husk; when it is fit for use they put it into the skins of fawns, or young buffaloes, taken off nearly whole for this purpose, and sewed into a sort of sack, wherein they preserve it till the return of their harvest. It has been the subject of much speculation, why this spontaneous grain is not found in any other regions of America, or in those countries situated in the same parallels of latitude, where the waters are as apparently adapted for its growth, as in the climate I treat of. As for instance, none of the countries that lie to the south and east of the Great Lakes, even from the provinces north of the Carolinas, to the extremities of Labrador, produce any of this grain. It is true, I found great quantities of it in the watered lands near Detroit, between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, but, on inquiry, I learned that it never arrived nearer to maturity than just to blossom, after which it appeared blighted and died away. This convinces me, that the northwest wind, as I have before hinted, is much more powerful in these than in the interior parts, and that it is more inimical to the fruits of the earth, after it has passed over the lakes and become united with the wind which joins it from the frozen regions of the north, than it is further to the westward."

The reasons assigned by Carver, why this grain is not seen in a state of maturity, to the east nor to the south of the Great Lakes, are unsatisfactory. The northwest winds are mitigated in passing over those immense bodies of water, nor is his assertion warranted by the fact. This rice certainly flourishes to the south of the lakes, and we have the authority of Kalm to support us in stating, that it grows to the east. The only difficulty exists as to the degree of latitude by which its growth is bounded; and it is believed, that Mackenzie limits its northern extension too much. Kalm says, that on the 16th of July he saw it growing on the western side of Lake Champlain, near Crown Point, in this state, and in the 44th degree of north latitude; and again he mentions, that the zizania aquatica, or folle avoine, grows plentifully in the rivulet, or brook, which flows somewhat below Prairie de la Magdalene, a small village on the eastern side of the river St. Lawrence, about eight miles from Montreal; and that its seed are gathered in October, and taste almost as well as rice. Dr. Williams says, that it is a native of Vermont. A considerable difficulty exists with respect to the botanical arrangement and denomination of this plant. Lin

næus, and after him Kalm, calls it zizania aquatica. M. Desfontaines, in his Tableau de L' Ecole de Botanique du Museum D'Histoire Naturalle, thus mentions it, quoting Linnæus for his authority, zizania aquatica grows in the northern parts of America, is an annual plant, and is alimentary. Michaux, in kis Flora Boreali Americana, makes three species.

1. Milacea,

2. Clavulosa,

growing in the watery parts of North America.

3. Fluitans-at Lake Champlain.

Of the second he says, this is the zizania of Gronovius, which Linnæus has improperly arranged with the Sloanina.

Persoon, in his Synopsis Plantarum, designates, besides those enumerated by

Michaux,

Aquatica,
Palustris,

varieties, the first growing in Jamaica, under water, and the

latter in the waters of North America.

And Terrestris-on dry land.

Muhlenberg, in his Catalogue of the Native and Naturalized Plants of North America, enumerates four species of zizania, or american rice.

1. Miliacea-millet.

2. Clavulosa-an annual plant, vulgarly called wild rice, or oats, grows in Pennsylvania, flowers in September.

3. Palustris-marsh; risave-Canada.

4. Fluitans-floating.

Dr. Barton considers the zizania clavulosa of Michaux, as the zizania aquatica of Linnæus, and says, that it grows and ripens its seed as far north in America, as the latitude of 50 degrees; and that the zizania milacea of Michaux, is a very distinct species, and that both of the species are eaten by the indians of the countries adjacent to the lakes. Amidst such a number of clashing authorities, it would not become me to offer an opinion. It is possible, however, that the zizania of Lake Champlain, is only a variety of the folle avoine; and it is, probably, a distinct species from the zizania of Pennsylvania. Providence appears to have intended this northern rice as a substitute for the rice of southern climates. Its produce is abundant; its alimentary qualities are undoubted; and the time may arrive, when the zizania aquatica of the north shall, under the hand of cultivation, attain to as high perfection, and contribute as much to the subsistence of the human race, as the oryza sativa of the south.

NOTE 34.

In strictness there are but two species of wheat; with beards, and without beards. Winter, summer, gray, duckbill, gray pollard or fuller wheat, cone wheat, polonian wheat, siberian spring wheat, Switzerland spring wheat, ægyptian bearded wheat, murwaary wheat, brought from Barbary, german spelter, zeeland wheat, and froment tremais, so called because it is only three months in the earth, all varieties of one or the other of these species, have been in a greater or less degree cultivated in England, and each has some peculiar recommendation. I have seen lands in this state which have produced fifty bushels an acre of this most excellent of the cerealia.

In the Transactions of the Linnæan Society, it is stated, that the blight of wheat, (uredo frumenti,) in the west of England, which was attributed to an insect, was owing to a fungus which had been long sown in the stem of the wheat. Sir Joseph Banks, in an excellent essay on the blight in corn, annexed to Curtis' Practical Observations on the British Grasses, has embraced the same opinion, and says, that the blight is occasioned by the growth of a minute parasitic fungus, or mushroom, on the leaves, stems, and glumes of the living plant; and he further states, that it has long been admitted by farmers, though scarcely credited by botanists, that wheat, in the neighbourhood of a barberry bush, seldom escapes the blight; that the village of Rollesby, in Norfolk, where barberries abound, and wheat seldom succeeds, is called by the opprobrious appellation of mildew Rollesby; that some observing men have, of late, attributed this very perplexing effect to the farina of the flowers of the barberry, which is, in truth, yellow, and resembles, in some degree, the appearance of the rust, or what is presumed to be the blight, in its early state, and that it is notorious to all botanical observers, that the leaves of the barberry are very subject to the attack of a yellow parasitic fungus, larger, but otherwise much resembling, the rust in corn. In opposition to the idea, that it is improbable that these fungi are the same, it is remarked that the misletoe, the best known parasitic plant, delights most to grow on the apple and hawthorn, in England, but that it flourishes occasionally on trees widely differing in their nature from both of these; and in the middle states of America it is most frequently found on the nyssa sylvatica, or sour gum, but to the southward upon oaks.

An insect, called the tipula tritici, or wheat insect, has destroyed, in some places in England, about one twentieth part of the produce. An insect, called

the ichneumon tipulæ, deposites its egg in the larva, or caterpillar, of the wheat fly, and this destroys it. Dr. Darwin gravely proposes, in his Phytologia, to counteract the pernicious effects of insects which produce blight, by propagating

the larva of the aphidivorous fly. It is not yet settled whether the hessian fly is of foreign or domestic origin: although a species of tipula, yet it is not the one just mentioned, as I am informed. The farmers on Long Island complain of the septennial ravages of an insect which destroys their barley, and which they denominate the army worm, from its numbers.

Dr. Barton has very justly remarked, that it is an object of the first importance to investigate the natural history of those insects, which are peculiarly injurious to us in any way, and that unfortunately our country, as much perhaps as any on this globe, abounds with such insects.

Dr. Smith, the celebrated president of the Linnæan Society, observes, that botany necessarily leads to the study of insects; for it is impossible to investigate plants, in their native situations, without having our attention perpetually awakened by the infinite variety of those active little beings, employed in a thousand different ways, in supplying themselves with food and lodging, in repulsing the attacks of their enemies, or in exercising a more than asiatic despotism over myriads below them; and he exultingly exclaims that, in England, no branch of natural history, after botany, has, for some years, had more attention paid to it than entomology: while with us, to adopt the language of dr. Barton, “notwithstanding the importance of the science of entomology, the history of our insects has hitherto excited but little attention."

NOTE 35.

Mr. Green, in his discourse on the botany of the United States, pronounces, that the fiorin grass is a native of this country; that it has been discovered in Sussex county, New-Jersey, on the margin of the Genessee river, and on an island below the city of Albany. Whether this be the same as the fiorin grass of Europe is still a question sub judice. In 1749 Kalm visited the island below Albauy, and in his journal he has mentioned several of its vegetable productions: the agrostis stolonifera, if growing there at that time, escaped his penetrating eye; but, whether indigenous or not, we know that it has been imported and successfully cultivated; that its alimentary qualities, and its crops, are great beyond example, and that it flourishes in defiance of soil, drought, and climate.

I do not know that saintfoin, or sainfoin, (hedysarum onobrychis,} which signifies wholesome hay, has succeeded as well in this country as in France, from whence it is derived. The milk of cows fed on it is nearly double, and makes most excellent cream and butter. It fattens sheep better than any other food,