The Kelp IndiLstry in the Highlands 



Although the three years 1807-9 witnessed the height of 

 .the kelp industry, it was not until 181 2 that there was any 

 marked decrease in the prices obtained. From 1815 to 1820 

 the ash still averaged £\o per ton, but after this date the 

 price began to decline rapidly, largely owing to the reduction 

 of the import tax on barilla. This in 1819 was as high as 

 £\\ per ton, but by 1823 no more tlian ;^5 per ton was 

 levied. The effect of this on the kelp market was very 

 marked, for by 1828 the prices obtained by the home pro- 

 duct were less than £^ per ton, and in 1834 as low as £Z' 



It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century 

 that tangle-ash came to be used for the production of iodine, 

 so it is interesting to realise that during the height of the 

 industry this ingredient, of recent years the most valuable 

 obtained from the ash, was as yet unknown, or at all events, 

 its possibilities were not realised. This new factor steadied the 

 prices somewhat, but so unprofitable had the industry be- 

 come that by 1875 North Uist had entirely ceased any pro- 

 duction, although only some thirty years earlier the 

 neighbouring island of South Uist produced no less than 

 1,600 tons in a single season. The suspension of so much 

 labour hit the island very hard, and accounted for not a 

 little of the emigration w'ith which the nineteenth century 

 is associated. 



In the kelp-making industry as it is now, there are two 

 distinct harvests, the one dealing with the stem, the other 

 with the frond, of the tangle, or laminarian seaweed. 

 That dealing with the stem is the better known and more 

 lucrative of the two. At the approach of winter heavy storms 

 of wind tear from their moorings great numbers of laminarian 

 plants, which are thrown up on the shore. The crofters 

 gather them, and breaking off the fronds, which would merely 

 rot during the long drying process, place the stems in care- 

 fully constructed layers on suitable rocks or on stone dry- 

 ing places made for the purpose. These stones should 

 be no more than two feet from the ground, and should sup- 

 M 177 



