Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

CANANDAIGUA. JULY 1820.

My dear Sir—I saw for the first time in the Seneca river, at Montezuma, the aquatic plant called wild rice, or folle avoine—it grows all over the west and north. And wherever it flourishes, myriads of water fowls are attracted to it, and derive their chief support and their exquisite flavor from its alimentary qualities. In the lakes and rivers adjoining Montezuma thousands of wild geese, and ducks of all kinds congregate at the proper season for food, except the canvass back duck, or anas valisneria of Wilson, which derives its name from a water plant called Valisneria, on the roots of which it feeds, and which Wilson states to be a fresh water vegetable that grows in some parts of the Hudson and Delaware, and most of the rivers that fall into the Chesapeake.

Some difficulty has occurred, not only about the botanical name, but also about the botanical character of the wild rice or oats. The confusion of nomenclature has arisen from Linnaeus himself. In his Species Plantarum, he has denominated it Zizania Aquatica: and in his Mantissa, Zizania Palustris—and it has been called by other botanists, Chlorisa. I shall prefer the first name as most characteristic. It has been well described by Lambert, as Zizania panicula inferne racemosa superne spicata. Pursh represents it as a perennial plant, Nuttall and Michaux are silent on this point—and Eaton says it is an annual, in which opinion I concur.

Mr. Lambert in the 7th volume of the Transactions of the Linnæan Society of London, has given a figure of this plant as growing at Spring Grove, the seat of Sir Joseph Banks, in England. It appears that Sir Joseph received some of the seed gathered from a lake in Canada, and put up in jars of water. It was sown in a pond at Spring Grove, where he has a great quantity of the plant growing annually, ripening its seeds extremely well in autumn, and sowing itself round the edges. By what I can learn, this same plant grows in Lake George, and Lake Champlain, and in all the Western Lakes. It produces seed in some places in September, and others in October. It grows in shallow water, sometimes to the height of 8 feet. Some of the Western Indians derive their principal support from it. The grain it bears is superior to the common rice; and if cut before ripe it makes excellent fodder, embracing the advantages of hay and oats. Mr. Lambert's figure of the plant in the Linnæan Transactions, is accurate; and exactly resembles the one growing in the Seneca river. Its productiveness may be inferred from the food it furnishes to thousands of human beings and to the myriads of aquatic animals.

From the success of the experiment of Sir Joseph Banks, it is highly probable that it will grow in any part of this country, and Great Britain: and if so, may it not be considered as a good substitute for the Oryza Sativa or common rice?—It is well known that the latter furnishes more subsistence to the human race than any other plant.

Pursh mentions a grass that he calls the Oryzopsis Asperifolia, which he observed on the broad mountains of this country; and which he says, contains large seeds which produce the finest flour. Perhaps this species of oryzopsis, although generically different, bears the same relation to z. aquatica, in its importance, and place of growth, as the Mountain rice of India does to the common rice of that region. At all events, the more I see of this country, the more I am convinced of its vast ability to support the human species, and the propriety of calling its latent powers into operation.

I am, &c.
HIBERNICUS.