THE USES OF SEA-WEEDS. 51 



ciously assigns to each who has an interest in the adjoining 

 land_, the portion of the shore from which at will he may 

 collect Sea-weed. Great, indeed,, is the avidity with which 

 sea-wrack is gathered as manure on all parts of the British 

 coast. In Ireland it is still more valued, as it is the chief 

 manure for thousands of acres of potato -ground. " On 

 many of our coasts/^ says Dr. Harvey, in his Manual, 

 " as along the west coast of Ireland, the poorer classes are 

 almost entirely dependent for the cultivation of their pota- 

 toes on the manure afforded by their rocky shores and 

 frequent gales.''^ And Mr. AV. Thompson, of Belfast, in 

 the ' Annals of Natural History,^ says : " Of this we had 

 a notable example at the town of Galway, some years ago. 

 Turf -boats were discharging their cargoes of Sea-weed at 

 the quay, and on inquiry whence it was brought, we learned 

 that it was from Slyne head, a place distant between fifty 

 and sixty miles, and that some of the purchasers were, for 

 the purpose of manure, about to convey it inland thirty 

 miles ! " 



Nor is it in Britain alone that the value of Sea-weed is 

 known. Inglis, in his ^Channel Islands,^ gives a most in- 

 teresting account of the use made of this production of i\\Q 

 sea in Jersey and Guernsey. The name which the inha- 



