NOTES ON NEREOCYSTIS 



91 



TABLE 1 



The results of chemical analyses of air-dried kelps. The material was collected by 

 the writer, and the analyses were made by Dr. J. IT'. Turrentine of the Bureau of 

 Soils. 



Nereocystis luetkeana, sample 1 

 Nereocystis luetkeana, sample 2 

 Nereocystis luetkeana, sample 3 

 Macrocystis pyrifera, sample 1 . 

 Macrbcystis pyrifera, sample 2 . 



ORGANIC 

 MATTER 



41.87 

 46.20 

 55.30 

 51.50 

 49.60 



IODIXE 



o.os 



0.17 

 0.15 

 0.20 

 0.22 



KC1 



40.60 

 36.40 

 25.60 

 31.00 

 22 . 10 



When these kelps are taken from the water and spread out so 

 that they will not decay, a whitish coating of salts is formed on the 

 surface. This is true of both fronds and stipes. The air-dried 

 material including these salts weighs from 3 to 6 per cent of the 

 weight of the plant when fresh from the water. Dr. Frank K. 

 Cameron reports that the dried material has been found on analy- 

 sis to contain from 25 to 40 per cent of potassium chloride, which 

 he values at $40 per ton. This would mean that the value of the 

 annual kelp crop of the Puget Sound region is $100,000 or over 

 for fertilizer purposes alone. This takes no account of iodine or 

 other by-products. Nereocystis has frequently been used locally 

 by gardeners of the region for fertilizer and has given good re- 

 sults. A fertilizer factory is now in operation at San Diego, 

 California, using Macrocystis -pyrifera as raw material. Two 

 Seattle men hold a patent on a process for manufacturing from 

 Nereocystis luetkeana substitutes for preserved citron, orange peel, 

 lemon peel and other candied and preserved products. The writer 7 

 has elsewhere described a method of rendering the fronds of 

 this plant leathery and the stipe rope-like, but there has not so 

 far been found any use for the material so treated other than that 

 of classroom demonstration of the form of the plant. 



The Indians of the Pacific Coast of North America found several 

 uses for the bladder kelp. The Alaska Indians formerly made fish 



: Rigg, G. B. A method of preparing the larger algae. The Plant World, 

 8: 202. 1911. 



