248 Mh. Glassford's History and Description of the Kelp Manufacture. 



detached from the rocks, is differently and more easily managed than 

 the other weed, which does not float. Less extensive apparatus, and less 

 labour is required to collect and burn the yellow wreck, and for this 

 reason it is mostly used in the Highlands of Scotland. And because it 

 is more of a land plant — of a more amphibious nature than the drift- 

 weed and deep sea plants — it is much less valuable as a source of 

 iodine and of potash. The method of cutting and collecting the yellow 

 wreck, or Fucus nodosus, called bladder-wreck by the Irish, is peculiar, 

 and merits our attention now. The men designed for this purpose are 

 arranged into a company, which may consist of almost any number, but 

 most usually and conveniently of six or eight men. These are headed by 

 one who takes charge of all their operations, who is termed the master. 

 He, however, participates in all their labours, and requires to find his 

 company in their full complement of tools and materials, points out the 

 shore which is to be cut, and takes a general supervision, for which he 

 receives an extra payment at the end of the season. Each of these com- 

 panies are provided with a small rowing boat, having an anchor, painter, 

 and oars — with three or four common hay pitchforks — with one or two 

 spades or shovels — with two or three handbarrows, or with a horse and 

 car if they can be got. Each man is provided with a stout rope 30 yards 

 long, and with a reaping hook. The operation of cutting the wreck is 

 conducted only during the days of spring tides, when the greatest quan- 

 tities of weed are exposed, and may be carried on for eight successive 

 days in fine weather, during every alternate tide, when at the lowest. 

 The hours of low and full tides must be carefully watched by the 

 companies, as on this the success of their operations depends. The 

 cutting operations usually commence three days before the day of highest 

 spring tide. About two hours previous to low water, (that is, while the 

 tide is still ebbing,) the men proceed en masse, with their ropes and hooks, 

 towards the shore where their operations are to be conducted. They 

 range themselves along the water edge, at a distance of six to eight yards 

 from each other, and begin to cut the weeds in a somewhat similar manner 

 to the reaping of corn or wheat, and when cut, throwing the weeds behind 

 them with the left hand. In this manner they proceed cutting — following 

 the water as it recedes or ebbs, until they have cleared the whole ground 

 allotted to them. The ropes are then brought to the beach, their ends 

 tied together, and laid along the water edge. Each man then wraps a 

 portion of the weed round the rope, so a3 to encase it completely. This 

 is necessary to give the rope sufficient buoyancy, otherwise it would not 

 rise with the weeds when they float, and the wreck would thus become 

 scattered. In some parts of the Highlands ropes made of birch are used, 

 which swim readily, and do not require this covering process. When this 

 operation is securely effected, the men proceed towards the point where 

 they began, and with their faces in the opposite direction, {i.e., to the 

 shore,) cut the remaining weeds before them until they have cleared the 

 whole shore, and secured all the available wreck. By this time the tide 



