122 TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



sons wlio can overcome the disgust caused by its very unpleasant 

 aspect. At some of tlie British establishments for preserving fresh 

 vegetables it is put up in hermetically sealed cases for exportation and 

 use at sea, or for use at seasons when it cannot be obtained from the 

 rocks. It is collected only in winter, at which season the membranous 

 fronds, which are found in a less perfect state in summer, are in full 

 growth. Both species of Porphyra grow abundantly on the rocky 

 shores of North America. They not only furnish an agreeable vege- 

 table sauce, but are regarded as anti-scorbutic, and said to be useful 

 in glandular swellings, perhaps from the minute quantity of iodine 

 which they contain. 



As articles of food for man other seaweeds might be mentioned, but 

 I admit that none among them furnish us directly with valuable escu- 

 lents ; though many less nauseous than the hunter's " Tripe de Roche" 

 are sufiiciently nourishing to prolong existence to the shij)wrecked 

 seaman ; and others, like the Porpliyrce just mentioned, are useful 

 condiments to counteract the effects of continued subsistence on salt- 

 junk. 



But if not directly edible, there are many ways in which they indi- 

 rectly supply the table. As winter provender for cattle, some are in 

 high esteem on the northern shores of Europe. In Norway and Scot- 

 land the herds regularly visit the shores, on the recess of the tide, to 

 feed on Fucus vesiculosus and F. serratus, which are both also collected 

 and boiled by the Norwegian and Lapland peasants, and, when mixed 

 with coarse meal, given to pigs, horses, and cattle. These Fuci are 

 both grateful and nourishing to the animals, which become very par- 

 tial to such food. Yet, perhaps, they are only the resources of half- 

 fed beasts, and would possibly be blown on by a stall-fed ""short- 

 horn" that looks for vegetables of a higher order. 



To obtain such food for the high-bred cow, the Alga3 must be ap- 

 plied in another way — namely, as manure. For this purpose they 

 are very largely used in the British islands, Avhere '''sea-wrack" is 

 carried many miles inland, and successfully applied in the raising of 

 green crops. On the west coast of Ireland, the refuse of the sea fur- 

 nishes the poor man with the greater part of the manure on which he 

 depends for raising his potatoes. All kinds of seaweed are indis- 

 criminately applied ; but tlie larger kinds of Laminarice are i^referred. 

 As these rapidly decompose, and melt into the ground, they should, 

 in common with other kinds, be used fresh, and not suffered to lie 

 long in the j)it, where they soon lose their fertilizing properties. The 

 crops of potatoes thus raised being generally abundant, but the quality 

 rarely good, sea-wrack is more suitable, to the coarser than to the 

 finer varieties of the potato. It is, however, considered excellent for 

 various green croi^s, and a good top-dressing for grass land, and its 

 use is by no means confined to the poorer districts. The employment 

 of sea-wrack is limited only by the expense of conveying so bulky a 

 material to a distance from the sea or a navigable river. 



Though the agricultural profits derived from the Algfe are consid- 

 erable, a still larger revenue was once obtained by burning the Fuci 

 and collecting their ashes, as a source of carbonate of soda — a salt 

 which exists abundantly in most of them. Fucus vesiculosus, nodosus, 



