Cattails = Clay

Cattails = Clay. Hibiscus palustris. , CATTAILS = CLAY, The schooner John Schmults was in the brick trade for many years during the late 19th century on the Hackensack [River]. Clay deposits were extensive and prized by the Lenape and early settlers for pottery then brickmaking. The Dutch were taught to dig for clay where they saw cattails growing. Cattail (Typha latifolia) has almost disappeared from along the lower Hackensack due to the increased salinity since the construction of the Oradell dam., [ Sidebar: ] , Hibiscus palustris, Oh, the marshlands of New Jersey: , Oh, the broad moors near the sea, , Where the salt winds off the ocean , Wander far and fast and free!, Oh, the tides in winding channels , Hidden in the meadow grass, , Where with hulls unseen, ghost vessels, , Gliding schooners bayward pass;, And the nodding and the lisping , Of the zephyr-haunted sedge, , And the mallow’s flaming petals , On the sluggish ditch’s edge;, And the meadow lark, sky scaler, , Mounting up on tiny wings, , Flooding upper space with music , Largesse, free, but fit for kings;, And the fleecy flocks of cloudland, , Browsing o’er their sunny leas, , And the flitting of their shadows, , Playing with each vagrom breeze!, Oh, the brave life of the marshes, , Jersey’s moorlands, green and wide; , And the brotherhood that crowns it, , Blowing wind and flowing tide! , Owen Terry. From Windjammers of the Hackensack by Eugene K. Bird, 1916. BCHS.