The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1828-03-26
INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS OF THE
UNITED STATES

Among the vegetable productions of our
country. either little known, whose uses are
but little understood the following are men,
toned in the Western Review.
The WnD RICE of the Northern Lakes,
whose very existence is hardly known, except
to the Savages, the Canadians, and the c0H-
ren1S du bOiS, who traverse those regions, is
however, next to maize, the most prolifcper-
haps of all the ceTeaiie. 1t is found in the
greatest abundance ON the marshy margins CT
the Lakes, and in the plashy swamps on the
upper courses of the Mississippi, where it COW
ers vast extent Of country. 1t is there that
the Canadian hunters and traders find their an
nual supplies Of grain, and that the millions of
migrating water fowls fatten, before they take
| their autumnal nigrations to the South. IT.
very accurately resembles the cane-grass of the
swamps and savannas ON the Gulf of Mexico.
| 1t springs from all depths of water, from seven
! feet to one, where the bottom is soft and mud
/ dy and rises from five to eight feet above wa
ter. At the time of gathering is, canoes are
rowed among it, blanket is spread on the
canoes, and the grain is beaten down into the
! blankets. It grows in perfection as far South
as Natchitoches, south of 81 and might prob
ably be cultivated in any of the drowned lands
or ponds and marshes of the Atlantic country
! Well prepared, it is as white as common rice,
and buildings made Of it taste like those OF sage.
The CANE, which every one has seen in the
shape of angling rods, grows on the lower
courses of the Mississippi, Arkansas, Red Riv
er, and their waters, and rises in height from
Is to 80 feet. The leaves are abundant, and
of a beautiful green, and it grows SO thick
that the stems seems contiguous, while above
there is an impervious roof of verdure. The
smallest sparrow could hardly fly in these cane
brakes, and man coulo not make a progress
of three miles day. The burning of cane
f brake, when cut down and dried, is a singular
spectacle enough. The rapid fame with the
} myriads of detonations from the rarihed air in
the hollow compartments Of the cane, nearly
as loud as the report of a musket, give the
$ idea of an army in the fury and fame of battle.
E At the end of five years it produces an album
Y dant crop of farinaceous seeds, of the taste of
I wheat, and used, like it, for bread by the Indians
7 and first settlers. No spot affords SO rich and
J perennial range for cattle as the cane-brake.
. The butter from it, is Of the finest quality and
flavor The stem rises six feet before it loses its
t succulency and tenderness, and no vegetable or
a grass affords so rich and abundant fodder, OF
@ SO rapid growth. 1t might says the writer,
a be worth the experiment of sowing it annually
e in regions where it will not survive the winter
! Answers OF DEAF AND DuMB Boy
q Amongst allthe pthy apothegms and replica.
q tIons Of the sages Of antiquity, it would be diff
4 cult to find three sayings more beautiful, Of
!. more beautifully true, than the following an
- swers made by deaf and dumb boy in Balti
~ more, pupil OF the Able Sicard, to tho ques.
- tons also annexed: What is hopea The bios
. som of happiness. What is eternity The life