The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



port a tangle layer two feet in thickness. Great care must 

 be taken not to allow the tangles to rot during the winter, 

 and for this reason the layers are constructed so that as 

 far as possible the rain water drips off the drooping stems. 

 It is important also that the tangle heaps should be formed 

 out of reach of the spray, and that the stems should be 

 gathered as soon as they appear along the shore. In the 

 choosing of drying places for the tangle stems perhaps the 

 most important thing to be borne in mind is to place them 

 far removed from any stretch of sand. 



A well-known chemical company, in more than one of 

 its circulars issued to kelp-makers, prints the sentence, 

 "Avoid sand like poison." It is likewise important that 

 during the burning no sand should become mixed with 

 the ash, for there is nothing that so lowers the price obtained 

 as this impurity. The period of the year during which most 

 tangles are gathered varies considerably, depending as it 

 does entirely on the state of the weather. For instance, dur- 

 ing a recent winter there were areas of shore on Tiree 

 where not a single tangle had been gathered even as late as 

 the month of January, owing to the exceptionally quiet 

 conditions which had prevailed during the early winter 

 months. On the other hand the workers on lona had col- 

 lected a considerable harvest by the opening days of Decem- 

 ber. All through the winter and at times even during March 

 and April the tangle stems are gathered. As the power of the 

 sun strengthens the stems gradually lose moisture, until by 

 the end of April or the beginning of May earlier if the 

 conditions are favourable they have become hard and 

 shrivelled. 



Previous to this time, usually during the early part of 

 March, the stems are removed from the stones where they 

 have lain through the winter and are gathered into heaps in 

 order to protect them from the rain. Here they remain till 

 the first spell of fine weather, when they are burned. 



Cattle at times do very considerable damage to the drying 

 178 



