KELP. 



; and a small portion of this alkali is 

 usually presented in the waste ashes of soap- 

 makers, which many cultivators consider highly 

 valuable as a manure. 



As the use of kelp has been of late much 

 greater than formerly as a manure, it will be 

 useful for the cultivator to learn the proportion 

 of alkali contained in the kinds usually met 

 with in commerce, as determined by Mr. Ja- 

 mieson (Min. of Scottish Isles, vol. ii. p. 248) : 



It*, oz. Ibs. 



Barilla from Alicant, good - - - 23 8 in 100 



Teneriffe, had 8 7 



Kelp from Norway, indifferent - - 2 11 



Shetland, indifferent - 2 6 



Lewis, indifferent 2 6 



W. Highlands, much damaged 5 



Arran ..... 3 8 



Islu, good - - - 4 



Mull, good ... 4 8 



Morven, good - - - - 4 8 



Skye, good .... 5 



Leith shores - - - 4 



But, besides the alkali referred to, kelp con- 

 tains iodide of potassium, bromide of potas- 

 sium, and sulphuret of potassium; all of which 

 probably exert considerable influence on vege- 

 tation. It is well known that seeds sown in 

 pure sand, and watered with a solution of 

 iodine, germinate very rapidly. 



The residuum, when all the soda and com- 

 mon salt are extracted from the barilla, is 

 principally earthy matters, which are of a very 

 inert nature, and need not be regarded by the 

 cultivator as possessing any peculiar fertilizing 

 properties different from marl, which they 

 much resemble in composition. 



100 parts of these insoluble matters of kelp 

 are composed of 



Snlphureti 



Ciirhon - 



Sulphuric acid 



Silica 



Lime 



Magnesia 



Alumina 



Iron 



Loss 



100- 



From the quantity of kelp produced on the 

 shores of Scotland, and its reduced price since 

 the peace, which again allowed the unrestricted 

 import of Spanish barilla, and more especially 

 since the discovery of a cheap mode of extract- 

 ing soda from common salt, the application of 

 kelp as a manure has engaged the serious at- 

 tention of the farmers of that part of the island, 

 and a committee was some time since appoint- 

 ed by the Highland Society of Scotland to report 

 cipon its pretensions ; in much of that report, 

 from which the following extracts are made, I 

 cordially agree: 



"Your committee are unwilling to offer any 

 theoretical opinion as to the way in which kelp 

 may operate as a manure. From the quantity 

 of alkali which it contains, it may naturally be 

 expected to operate by rendering the animal 

 and vegetable matter soluble, and a fit food for 

 plants ; but, from the series of facts to be no- 

 ticed, kelp would seem to possess other quali- 

 ties as a manure. Although it may be benefi- 

 cially applied as a dressing by itself, yet the 

 committee are at present inclined to think that, 



KELP. - 



with a view to raising of green crops, it would 

 be better to mix it in compost with other sub- 

 stances. The selection of these must depend 

 upon what the farmer can furnish ; but the 

 committee think that good earth or moss will 

 form a good compost, and if to this mixture 

 can be added a little vegetable or animal ma- 

 nure, a beneficial result can be relied on. In 

 this way, a few tons of kelp would enable a 

 farmer to extend his farm dung over at least 

 four times the quantity of land." 



The relative value of kelp as a manure may 

 be estimated from the following experiments, 

 made in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh : 

 A field upon the estate of Inverleith, possessed 

 by Mr. Hutchinson, was selected, which had 

 been in wheat in the year 1828, hence it was 

 in some measure in an exhausted state : upon 

 one ridge of this field there was sown at the 

 rate of 12 cwt. of kelp per acre ; on a second, 

 at the rate of 10 cwt. per acre ; and on a third 

 at the rate of 4 cwt. per acre. Two other 

 ridges were manured with the best cow and 

 horse dung, at the rate of 20 tons per acre; 

 and the whole was sown with wheat late in the 

 spring of 1829. The two ridges which had got 

 the greatest quantity of kelp were equal to that 

 which had the dung, and the ridge which had 

 got the smallest quantity was decidedly supe- 

 rior to the others. Similar experiments were 

 made upon the same field, by sowing barley 

 after the previous crop of wheat ; the result 

 was, that the barley manured with the kelp 

 was, according to the estimate of the tenant 

 and his Stewart, a much heavier crop than 

 after an application of horse and cow dung, 

 and that the ridge with the smallest quantity 

 of kelp appeared the heaviest crop. 



A portion of the lands of Bangholm were 

 manured with kelp of inferior quality, at the 

 rate of one ton per acre, and the land sown 

 with yellow turnip ; the crop, upon examina 

 tion, is considered to be fully equal to that part 

 of the field which has been manured with 

 dung. (Baxter's Lib. of Jlgr. Knowl. p. 406.) 



Mr. Kerr, of Henfield, has given the result 

 of his experiments on kelp, from which he is 

 of opinion that " 5 cwt. of kelp per Scotch acre 

 will produce a manifest improvement on any 

 crop." (Trans. High. Soc. i. p. 320.) Care must, 

 however, be taken not to apply too copious a 

 dressing of kelp. Mr. Mackinnon, of Corry, 

 draws the following conclusion from his expe- 

 riments ; he used the ashes of sea-weed burnt 

 in aheap: "of the ashes thus manufactured, 

 20 bushels were allowed to the acre, and dis- 

 tributed in the drills. When the turnips sprout- 

 ed, they had an unhealthy green or rather yel- 

 lowish appearance, but after some time several 

 patches in the field seemed to be growing lux- 

 uriantly, while others seemed to retain their 

 sickly hue. Upon a careful investigation, it 

 was discovered that wherever the ground was* 

 deepest, and the ashes of the sea-weed had 

 been most mixed up with the soil, the turnips 

 were best ; and, on the other hand, that where 

 the ashes, not being mixed up with the soil, 

 came in contact with the seed, the turnips did 

 not at all thrive. In clearing the ground the 

 weeds were collected into heaps, and burn 

 upon the spot ; and it was observed that on 



583 



