292 AGRTCULTURAI. MUSEUM. 



More might no doubt be made, but with these T shall 

 leave the subject to those who may have more opj3ortu- 

 nities, and more leisure. Sylvanus. 



J'br the Agricultural Museum. 

 The Sea weed. 



The Sea-weed {alga marina) so frequently met with on 

 the Northern Sliores ot Europe, is unknown on this side 

 of the Atlantic. 1 have never heard of any attempt to 

 transplant it, or to cultivate it, on the coast of the Uni- 

 ted States, and am entirely at a loss to know, whether 

 its absence is to be imputed to the nature of our climate, 

 or merely to the want of the seed or root for propagati- 

 on. The value of the plant entitles it to attention, and 

 it would be proper to make the experiment on our coast, 

 in order to ascertain \\ht th<'r it could be naturalized or 

 not. It would not require much trouble or expence' 

 to attempt it, as any of our vejjsels, public or private, 

 might bring along with them some of those stones, on 

 which the «Zga 7;ia7/«a had taken a firm root, and drop 

 them on the beach, between high and low w ater mark, 

 on salt water, from whence they might aftervvai'ds be 

 removed to a permanent situation. 



The alga marina, where nature hath given it sponta- 

 neously, demands no labor of cultivation. Wherever a 

 stone of sufiieient size, appears on the sea beach, it is 

 quiekl> covered over by the plant, which attaching by a 

 small t'. iidj'i! to the body of the stone, shoots out suc- 

 cessive 'ranches, of a size greater than the parent stem 

 Those stems are at short intervals set with hollow 

 tumuli, distended with air, which serves to lloat tlie 

 whole tieece on the immeiging tide, and gjow in two 

 years to the length of three feet, in favorable situations, 

 when it is ready for the sickle. Stones brought from 

 the lands adjacent, placed on proper situations, have 

 been knov. n to produce a crop in five or six years alter 

 being set down, the weed springing spontaneously, the 

 first year after planting. 



