142 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



the shores of Britain and Ireland. The sea- ware 

 being collected and dried upon the shore, a 

 simple kiln, five or six feet square, is enclosed 

 with stones, and a fire being made in it, the sea- 

 wrack is reduced to a melted condition. On being 

 allowed to cool it assumes a solid state, not unlike 

 a grey coloured porous clay or stone, and being 

 broken in pieces is ready for the market. 



Another important use to which marine vege- 

 tables are applied is that of manure in the culti- 

 vation of land. Marine plants contain in large 

 quantities those various ingredients, such as phos- 

 phates, earthy and alkaline carbonates, that are 

 requisite to enrich the land and render it capable 

 of producing plants of whose composition these 

 ingredients are a part. The sea-ware, therefore, 

 when spread upon the soil and allowed to decom- 

 pose, constitutes a valuable manure, and being 

 often cast in great quantities upon the shore during 

 storms, affords a rich return to those cultivators 

 of land on the coast who avail themselves of the 

 opportunity of gathering it. The gathering of 

 seaweed for the purpose of manure and for fuel 

 exhibits in the Channel Islands a busy and pic- 

 turesque scene. 



Another use to which some species may be put, 

 is that of supplying food for pigs and cattle, and 

 for this purpose it may at all times v be applied as 

 well as in times of scarcity. It is applied to this 

 important purpose in the Western Isles, and in 

 several parts of the northern coasts of Europe. 

 The animals fed upon it are said to thrive re- 



