For March, 1922 



91 



POTASH-MARL 



{Continued [roin page 84) 



Leaf or Chlorosis — "The name Chlorosis, or 'Yellow 

 Leaf,' is applied to a grape disease in which the foliage 

 turns yellow, later becoming brown. It is common in 

 several parts of New York State but more particularly 

 in the Central Lake District. The cause of Chlorosis is 

 occasioned by the presence of a large amount of lime in 

 the soil which prevents the roots from taking up a suffi- 

 cient amount of iron for satisfactory growth. Experi- 

 ments show that the difficulty can be overcome by apply- 

 ing a small amount of iron around the affected vines and 

 plants and where the disease has occurred two years in 

 succession a liberal application of iron around the roots 

 as well as around the vine." 



A test was made in Westchester County to determine 

 the value of Potash-]Marl as a potato fertilizer in com- 

 parison to other high grade commercial fertilizers, using 

 equal quantities of each. The Potash-j\Iarl-grown po- 

 tatoes showed an increase in yield of over 100%. This 

 crop was the best crop in Westchester County in 1921 

 and the largest and best potatoes in the exhibit of the 

 Stamford Horticultural Society, Stamford, Conn. 



An experiment was made in 1921 by the Maplewood 

 Country Club, Maplewood. X. J., to ascertain the effi- 

 ciency of Potash-Marl as a lawn dressing. The greens 

 treated with Potash-Marl showed a luxuriant growth and 

 this was particularly noticeable during the long dry spell 

 in July. 



The following test was made in 1920 by D. \V. P>ennet, 

 of Norwalk, Conn. Two rows of Gladiolus beside of two 

 rows of same planted at the same time using the same 

 amount of commercial fertilizer and compost and Potash- 

 Marl and compost. The two rows planted with commer- 

 cial fertilizer came up with a yellow tint. The Potash- 

 Marl treated with a darker green foliage and the spikes 

 or foliage was a much darker green. The flowers were 

 more brilliant and larger. 



It has been found that in using Potash-Marl that the 

 best results have been obtained by placing it directly in 

 contact with the seed which can be safely done as there 

 is no danger of burning. 



In addition to the advantages of being odorless, and 

 free from weed seeds, Potash-Marl does not leach away. 

 Any of the elements necessary to plant growth which 

 have not been consumed by the plant remain in the 

 ground upbuilding the soil for future crops. 



It has been demonstrated in many experiments made 

 from the year 1818 to the present time that Potash- 

 Marl as a fertilizer for crops, lawns and flowers is de- 

 serving of consideration even by the most critical. 



SOME OF THE EARLIER SPRING FLOWERS 



( Continued from page 88) 



naked stem arising from a rosette of root leaves is sur- 

 mounted by a cluster of numerous, small white flowers. 



On the warm hill slopes in April there are Pussy-Toes, 

 Antciinaria planfaginifolia. with downy stems and woolly 

 leaves and silky, silvery white heads of small but ex- 

 tremely interesting flowers. This flower was one of the 

 earliest loves of our early childhood, and our affection 

 for it has never grown dim. 



Near the Pussy-Toes we find another of our childhood 

 flowers, the low-growing type of the blue Violet, Viola 

 cueidlata. Other Violets too are found in bloom in this 

 .fickle month of April ; Viola hlanda. the Sweet ^^'hite 

 Violet, growing in the moist meadows and swamps ; 

 Viola r at undi folia, the Round-Leaved Yellow Violet, 



which wc first saw years ago growing on the clayey 

 bank of a brook and which we have seen in bloom only 

 once since in a like location ; Viola lanceolata, the Lance- 

 Leaved Violet, growing in damp ground, having white 

 flowers whose lower petals are penciled with purple ; 

 Viola pu-bescens, the Downy Yellow Violet, whose bright 

 yellow flowers veined with purple we have sometimes 

 seen in open rocky woodlands in late March : Viola canina 

 variety Muhlcnhergii, Dog-Violet, which blooms shyly 

 in late March but in profusion in April in moist, grassy, 

 ojien woodlands, and whose flowers vary in color from 

 very light to dark blue. On the dry, sandy, sunny hill- 

 sides where the grass can barely exist there grows a 

 \'iolet quite different in both flowers and foliage from 

 the others. This is Viola pedata, the Bird's-Foot Violet, 

 whose leaves are divided into many sections, and these 

 sections again parted, and whose flowers vary in color 

 from lilac to blue and sometimes to white. In the pretty 

 variety of this named hicolor, which is much rarer than 

 the species, the two upper petals are quite deep violet. 



In the rocky, mossy, sandy soil on hill and mountain 

 side : sometimes well down to the foot of these elevations ; 

 on the river banks or in the edges of the meadows : often 

 in the shade of trees or shrubs, and not infrequentlv partly 

 covered with the brown leaves which have fallen from 

 the trees, we find prostrate and trailing along on the 

 ground a little evergreen shrub which bears the sweetest 

 scented and brightest pink flower of April. This is the 

 Trailing Arbutus, Epigcea repcns. which the Pilgrims 

 called Mayflower, under which name our Whittier im- 

 mortalized it in verse. The flower buds of the Trailing 

 Arbutus are fully formed in Autumn and, protected by 

 leaves and by snow during the Winter, burst into bloom 

 in early Spring. 



Close up to a ledge or boulder in the open country, or 

 in a sparsely wooded ravine we find two plants whose 

 flowers are quite different from most of those which 

 bloom in April. The one is Dicrntm ciicullaria, Dutch- 

 man's I-ireeches, so called from the form of its flower, 

 whose dainty heart-shaped white blooms tipped with yel- 

 low are borne on a scape and whose grayish green, thrice 

 compound leaves are delicate and unusually pretty. The 

 other is Dicentra canadensis. Squirrel-Corn, so called be- 

 cause its underground shoots bear yellow grain-like 

 tubers. The heart-shaped blooms of this Dieentra are 

 white and tipped with rose color, and its foliage closely 

 resembles that of D. cncullaria. 



In this same month of April in moist woodlands, grow- 

 ing in the clefts of the cliffs, there is another plant in 

 flower belonging to the same order as the Dicentras, 

 CorydaUs glatica. the Pink Corydalis. The delicate pink 

 and white flowers of this plant are borne in loose racemes 

 ind tipped with yellow, and its grayish green leaves are 

 made up of deeply cleft leaflets with scalloped edges. 

 This CorydaUs continues to bloom throughout the season. 



Going away from the rocky ravines and out of the 

 woodlands into grassy places we find a dear little flower 

 which the children all like to gather with their Violets, a 

 flower with many commcjn names some of which are 

 "Innocents,'' "Bluets" and "Blue-Eyed Babies," but whose 

 botanical name is Houstonia ccvrulca. The flowers range 

 in color from lilac to pale blue and sometimes to cream 

 and have a yellow eye. They are borne on slender stems 

 rising out of a tuft of root leaves. 



Every one of these early Spring flowers and many 

 others we have gathered in the Spring days of the years 

 which are gone, looked upon them as objects of beauty 

 and studied them botanically. ^^'e may not be permitted 

 to do this again Init with us the memory of these flowers 

 ever remains. 



