( " ) 



and authority of the proprietor that various old bar- 

 barous habits of cultivation, or rather of waste, were 

 abolished and abandoned, such as burning of the sur- 

 face, and others, the very names of which are now 

 obsolete and forgotten. 



This appears to be the proper place to notice the 

 rise of the trade in kelp, manufactured by the burning Kelp trade, 

 of drift and cut seaweed — a product which began to be 

 valuable about the middle of the last century. It is 

 not, however, till we come to the report of 1778 that 

 any specific mention is made of the kelp trade. But 

 in that report the quantity of kelp which could be 

 produced on the shores of several farms, on an average, Amount produced 

 is mentioned in the report on these farms. ^'^^ siderable"^^^^^' 

 amount, however, mentioned is very inconsiderable, 

 and it is evident that the returns from kelp had not 

 at that time become any large part of the value of the 

 Island. But towards the close of the century, an^ on But towards close 

 to 1810-12, the produce of the Island in kelp very «^ c^J^^"^^ ^"/ «'^ 



^ ^ -^ "^ to 181 2, produce 



often exceeded the whole agricultural rental ; and the often exceeded 



system which seems to have been adopted as regards agricultural rental. 



the price paid to the tenants of the farms on the shores 



of which the kelp was produced, is perhaps the most 



important fact which helps to explain the subsequent 



economic condition of the people. So large a share in 



the price of the kelp seems to have been allowed to 



the tenants, and to have been accepted from them to Tenants often paid 



account of their rents, that very often they had 110 from produce^ of 



rent at all to pay for their purely agricultural posses- kelp. 



sions. In the years from 1 800 to 1 808, for example, 



the island seems to have produced somewhere from 



200 to 300 tons of kelp, which in the later part 



of this period became worth from ;^io t0;^i2 per 



