432 MODE IN WHICH SEA-WEED IS APPLIED. 



understand, may be expected to exercise a somewhat different influ- 

 ence upon vegetation. 



It is of importance, however, to bear in mind that the sahne and 

 other inorganic matters which are contained in the sea-weed we lay 

 upon our fields, form a positive addition to the land. If we plough in a 

 green crop where it grew, we restore to the soil the same saline matter 

 only w^hich the plants have already taken from it during their growfh, 

 while the addition of sea-weed imparts to it an entirely new supply. It 

 brings back from the sea a portion of that w^hich the rivers are con- 

 stantly carrying into it, and is thus valuable in restoring, in some mea-^ 

 sure, what rains and crops are constantly removing from the land. 



Sea-weed is collected along most of our rocky coasts — and is 

 seldom neglected by the farmers on the borders of the sea. In the Isle 

 of Thanet. it is sometimes cast ashore by one tide and carried off by 

 the next ; — so that after a storm the teams of the farmers may be seen 

 at work even during the night in collecting the weed, and carrying it 

 beyond the reach of the sea (British Husbandry, II., p. 418.) In that 

 locality, it is said to have doubled or tripled the produce of the land. 

 On the Lothian coasts, a right of way to the sea for the collection of 

 sea-ware increases the value of the land from 25s. to 30s. an acre 

 (Kerr's Berwickshire, p. 377.) In the Western Isles it is extensively 

 collected and employed as a manure— (" sea-weeds constitute one- 

 half of Hebridean manures, and nine-tenths of those of the remoter 

 Islands," Macdonald's Agricidture of the Hebrides, p. 401.) — and 

 on the north-east coast of Ireland, the farming fishermen go out in 

 their boats and hook it up from considerable depths in the sea (Mrs. 

 Hall's Ireland.) 



It is applied either immediately as a top-dressing, especially to grass 

 lands — or it is previously made into a compost with earth, with lime, 

 or with shell-sand. Thus mixed with lime, it has been used with ad- 

 vantage as a top-dressing for the young wheat crop, (British Hus- 

 bandry, II., p. 419 ;) and with shell-sand, it is the general manure for 

 the potatoe crop among the Western Islanders (Transactions of the 

 Highland Society, 1842-3, p. 766.) It may also be mixed with farm- 

 yard manure or even with peat moss, both of which it brings into a 

 more rapid fermentation. In some of the Western Isles, and in Jer- 

 sey, it is burned to a light, more or less coaly powder, and in this 

 form is applied successfully as a top-dressing to various crops. There 

 is no reason to doubt that the most economical method is to make it 

 into a compost with absorbent earth and lime, or to plough it in at 

 once in the fresh state. 



. In the Western Islands one cart load of farm-yard manure is con- 

 sidered equal in immediate effect — upon the first crop, that is — to 2i 

 of fresh sea-weed, or to H after it has stood two months in a heap. 

 The sea-weedj however, rarely exhibits any considerable action upon 

 the second crop. 



Sea-weed is said to be less* suited to clay soils, while barren sand 

 has been brought into the state of a fine loam by the constant appli- 

 cation of sea-weed alone, for a long series of years (Macdonald's 

 Hebrides, p. 407.) 



Conflicting opinions are given by different practical men m regard 



