344 THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Saline Manures—continued. 
some of the substances supply to the plants those 
minerals that are required by all of them, as shown by 
the chemical analysis of their ashes; e.g., Potassium 
Chloride supplies to plants the elements Potassium and 
Chlorine, both of which, but especially the former, are 
required by them. Ammonium Sulphate, which is often 
made use of as a Manure, supplies Nitrogen in a form 
readily taken up by plants. Other Saline Manures 
serve as food for the plants not only directly, but even 
still more efficiently by rendering certain injurious acids 
and other substances harmless, or by acting on various 
substances already in the soil, changing them from an 
insoluble to a soluble condition. Plants are able to 
absorb the substances thus changed, and to employ them 
as food. As examples of such Manures, Carbonates of 
Potash and of Soda, and Gypsum or Sulphate of Lime, 
may be mentioned. 
The views generally entertained in regard to the uses 
of the various elements in Saline Manures may be > 
summed up as follows: 
Potassium is concerned in the formation of starch, as 
is shown by the absence of the latter from plants from 
which the element is completely withheld. Such plants 
soon cease to grow; but growth is resumed on Potassium 
being again given. Potassium Chloride is the best source 
of this element for plants, and Potassium Nitrate (salt- 
petre) is the next best. Potassium Sulphates and Phos- 
phates are less efficacious. 
Sodium compounds are abundant in many plants near 
the seashore; but Sodium does not seem essential; 
at least, plants from which it is withheld often grow 
equally well with others to which it is supplied. 
Calcium and Magnesium are always present, though 
varying much in amount. The absence of Calcium checks 
growth after a time; but the exact use of each element 
is uncertain. Possibly, both benefit plants, “partly in 
serving as a vehicle for Sulphuric and Phosphoric acids 
in the absorption of food materials, and partly’in fixing 
the Oxalic Acid, which is poisonous to the plant, and in 
rendering it harmless” (Sachs). 
Tron is required, though only in minute quantity, to 
permit of chlorophyll becoming green, and doing its work 
in the nutrition of plants; but most soils contain a 
sufficient amount of Iron, and even a small excess is apt 
to be injurious. 
The Saline constituents required by plants may be 
supplied to any soil in which they are deficient, either 
by adding such Manures as contain them, or by subject- 
ing the soil to such treatment as will convert insoluble 
into soluble salts. One of the most important Manures 
is Kainite, a mineral brought from various localities, 
including Greenland. It occurs in rock masses, and 
consists of Potassic Sulphate, Magnesic Sulphate, and 
Magnesic Chloride, thus supplying several important 
elements. Other valuable Manures are mentioned 
above. 
SALISBURIA. 
see.) 
SALISIA (of Regel). 
(which see.) 
SALISIA (of Lindley). Included under Kunzea. 
SALIX (the old Latin name used by Virgil, &c.; 
connected with the Greek Lelike and English Sallow). 
Osier; Sallow; Willow. ORD. Salicinee. An extensive 
genus (about 160 species are enumerated by Anderson) 
of mostly hardy trees or shrubs, broadly dispersed. 
Flowers sessile; catkins often dense, erect, in temperate 
regions often early, sessile, and naked, in warmer and 
frigid regions coztaneous, leafy-pedunculate ; bracts small, 
entire or rarely toothed. Leaves often narrow or small, 
entire or serrulated, penniveined; stipules variable. The 
wood of the Willows “is soft and light, and‘is applied 
A synonym of Ginkgo (which 
A synonym of Gloxinia 
Salix—continued. 
to.a great variety of purposes, especially for building 
fast-sailing sloops of war, and for making cricket-bats. 
Split into thin strips, it is manufactured into hats. The 
twigs have, from the earliest antiquity, been employed in 
basket-work, and in Pliny’s time (as they are, indeed, at 
present, in the Northern countries of Europe) were 
twisted into ropes. The leaves of several species are, on 
the Continent, used as fodder for cattle, being collected 
in summer and stacked for winter consumption. In Sweden 
and Norway, the bark is kiln-dried in seasons of scarcity, 
and is mixed with oatmeal” (Lindley and Moore). The 
species used for basket-making are commonly called 
Osiers ; those best adapted for wicker-work are S. triandra 
and 8S. viminalis. Many species have been introduced 
into England, but only the most desirable are described 
in this work. Willows grow most freely when planted 
near water, but they succeed almost anywhere in heavy 
soil and damp situations. Propagated freely by cut- 
tings, made by firm wood of almost any reasonable size. 
Fungi. The Fungi parasitic on the various species 
of Willows are rather numerous, though seldom so 
hurtful as to seriously injure the trees or shrubs. 
Hence, it is unnecessary to enter upon a long account 
of them. here, and only a few of the more generally- 
diffused species will be mentioned. 
The leaves of most kinds of Willows are very apt, in 
summer and autumn, to become covered with small, 
yellow or orange spots, which, under a good microscope, 
are found to be composed of groups of rounded, yellow 
or orange cells, loosely massed together, and surrounded 
by the torn edges of the epiderm or skin of the leaf. 
These belong to a Fungus formerly known as Lecythea 
caprearum, and as Uredo miata. The cells are only an 
early condition of a Fungus named Melampsora salicina. 
In the latter stage, the Fungus occurs in spring, on leaves 
lying on the ground, in the form of black spots, made 
up of oblong, dark spores wedged as closely together as. 
they can lie side by side. 
Another very common Fungus on Willows assumes the 
form of a black crust on the leaves and branches. In 
its young state, it resembles a dark mould, and has been 
named Fumago vagans; but, when mature, it shows 
elongated perithecia with asci, in which lie six brown, 
multicellular spores. This mature condition is not fre- 
quent. 
A third Fungus that attacks Willows be — to the 
same group (Perisporiacei) as the last, but differs in 
colour, covering the leaves with a whitish coat (see 
Mildew and Oidium). This parasite bears the name 
of Uncinula adunca. The whitish coat is formed by the 
Oidium stage. After a time, numerous perithecia are 
formed on it, at first yellow, but afterwards becoming 
black, each of which bears on its surface a number of 
stiff hairs, ked at the tip. For general structure, 
see referencés just given. 
The leaves of Willows are often spotted by the growth 
on them of certain Moulds, and of such genera as 
Septoria and its allies, which are generally regarded as 
young conditions of Pyrenomycetes (which see for 
structure); but, beyond rendering the leaves unsightly 
towards the end of autumn, they do not materially 
injure the trees. The trunks of old Willow-trees are 
liable, like almost all other trees, to serious injury from 
the growth in them of mycelium of some of the larger 
Fungi, the presence of which is indicated by the appear- 
ance, on the exterior of the infected portions of the 
trunk, of mushrooms, —— or other reproductive 
bodies, varying according to the species of the Fungi. 
Trees thus infested are not worth preservation, and had 
better be used as firewood than be left as centres of in- 
fection. The Fungi that grow on the leaves are best got 
clear of by sweeping up and — all fallen leaves 
in autumn. 
.  ~ oro 
