SAMPLE OF MUSSEL BED. 



339 



Per cent. 

 Fresh wet rockweed contained, of vegetable matter, 23. OS 

 Air-dried rockweed contained, of vegetable matter, 89.00 

 Air-dried rockweed contained, of water . . 11.00 



Rockweed (entire plant) dried, at 100° C. contained, 



of nitrogen ...... 



Rockweed, air-dried, contained, of nitrogen . 

 Rockweed, fresh (wet), contained, of nitrogen 

 Rockweed dried, at 100° C. contained, of ashes 

 Rockweed, air-dried, contained, of ashes 

 Rockweed, fresh (wet), contained, of ashes . 



1.721 



1.432 



.397 



24.890 



22.150 



5.825 



The composition of the ashes does not differ materially 

 from that of the first sample. 



A comparison of the above analytical results of both 

 samples tends to show that the expense for labor controls 

 to a large degree the decision regarding the best time to 

 collect this sea-mannre. 



Mussel Mud. 

 This material was sent on for an analysis by Hon. James 

 J. H. Gregory of Marblehead, Mass. The material con- 

 sisted of a grayish-black mud containing fragments of shells, 

 which occurs in shallow flats, along the seashore, beneath a 

 deposit of live mussels. 



Per cent. 



The mud dried at 100° C. lost, of water . . 60.010 



The wet mud contained, of nitrogen . . . .212 

 The original material lost by calcination, of its 



original weight ....... 72.710 



One hundred parts of the mud contained, soluble in 

 hydrochloric acid, the following elements : — 



This material consists, in the main, of a clayey silt, 

 containing small fragments of hornblende, quartz, mica, &c. ; 

 and it differs from other deposits along the seashore by an 



