314 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



Many persons may think it strange that we should 

 occupy ourselves with plants which flourish in the sea, 

 when we possess so many useful plants on the land. To 

 this it may be replied that very little is known of the con- 

 siderable commerce which is carried on in various parts 

 of the world, more especially in the far East. Hence we 

 propose to publish, for general information, some reliable 

 details bearing upon this subject.* 



In France, on the coasts of Normandy and Brittany 

 at Noirmontier for instance large quantities of seaweed 

 are collected. It is generally the species known to natu- 

 ralists under the name of Fucus cornosus. There large 

 numbers live entirely on the result of the harvest of sea- 

 weed they collect each year. The seaweeds are largely 

 employed for industrial purposes. Upholsterers and others 

 use them for stuffing couches, stools, etc., in which they too 

 frequently are substituted for horsehair. They are used to 

 stuff mattresses, especially beds for children, because their 

 aromatic odour keeps away insects. Packers use seaweed 

 for wrapping fragile objects. Chemists obtain from them 

 a number of valuable products, such as saline matters or 

 soda, chlorides, sulphates, silicates, iodine, bromine, etc. 



At the last Maritime Exhibition held in Paris, sea- 

 weeds were shown dyed various tints after decolouration. 

 This new application was to replace paper cuttings, the 

 price of which, owing to numerous uses, had much advanced. 

 The seaweeds, after drying, are pressed into bales of about 

 100 kilogrammes. The colour is brown, something like 

 dried tobacco. 



Employment of Seaweed for Manure. The Chinese and 



* We quote from an interesting article on the uses of seaweed, published in 

 the " Bulletin de la Societe d'Acclimatation of Paris " for March, 1878, by 

 M. E, Renard. 



