ON MANURES. 181 



they can be procured with facility, and therefore deserve a 

 place in any general account of the husbandry of the United 

 Kingdom. 



Sea-ware, or tangle, in many of those districts, forms an 

 article of constant application, and when used with judgment, 

 never fails to add to the fertility of the land. On some parts 

 of the coast immense quantities are thrown up by the tide, 

 when aided by favourable gales of wind; and in those situa- 

 tions where experience teaches its value, it is seized on witii 

 great avidity as a sure means of increasing the crops to which 

 it can be applied ; while, in other places, either from the igno- 

 rance of the farmer, or in some cases from the want of means 

 and hands to assist in securing it, it is either wholly neglected, 

 or applied to other purposes than those of manure. Thus, in 

 the Orkneys, the Western Islands of Scotland, and on the 

 coasts of Ireland, it is almost solely employed in the manufac- 

 ture of kelp, and is even used in a dried state as fodder for 

 cattle. In the Isle of Thanet, when a large quantity is driven 

 ashore after a gale of wind, the farmers set all hands to work to 

 get as much as possible while the tide serves, lest the current 

 should carry it away; and even if it happen in the night, they 

 work at it till stopped by the flow of the sea. It is carted 

 through sloping passages cut in the clitf, and some farmers 

 will thus procure as much as 200 or 300 loads in one tide, for 

 it sometimes comes in quantities that amount to many thou- 

 sands, and is perhaps all swept away by the next ebb. Those 

 who live at a distance, therefore, hire small spots of ground on 

 which" to lay it, and carry it away at a more convenient oppor- 

 tunity. The principal mode in which it is there used, is by 

 mixing it in layers among the farm-yard dung ; and it is of 

 great use in helping to rot the litter carried out of the yard in 

 summer. 



Sea-ware, although valuable as a manure, is yet only 

 transient in its eflects, which do not last more than the crop; 

 nor can it be applied with any advantage, either to clay soils 

 or in very wet weather. To light land of any description it 

 is, however, well adapted; and it is very beneficially applied 

 to summer fallows. When spread on grass-land, it is also 

 found to improve the herbage, but it should be spread evenly, 

 and rather thinly. On arable, there is no certain rule for the 

 quantity which may be laid on, for it may be employed to 

 almost any moderate amount without injury. 



Kelp is made from burnt sea- ware; but since the admission 



