182 APPENDIX. [March, 



" Kelp, in commerce; the ashes of sea-weeds or fuci. {Fucus ser- 

 ratus and F. vesiculosus.) The species used in the manufacture of 

 this article, grow attached to rocks between [high and low water 

 mark, and are often termed rock-weed. On the Scottish coast, the 

 sea-weed is cut close to the rocks, during the summer season, and after- 

 wards spread out upon the shore to dry, care being taken to turn it 

 occasionally, to prevent fermentation. It is then stacked for a few 

 weeks, and sheltered from the rain till it becomes covered with a white 

 saline efflorescence, and is now ready for burning. This is usually 

 accomplished in a round pit, lined with brick or stone ; but the more 

 approved form for a kiln is oblong, about two feet wide, eight to eigh- 

 teen long, and from two to three deep ; the bottom of this is covered 

 with brush, upon which a little dried sea-weed is scattered, and fire is 

 applied at one extremity ; the sea-weed is now thrown on gradually, 

 rs fast as the combustion reaches the surface, and should there be 

 much wind, it is necessary to protect it by covering the sides with 

 sods ; after the whole is burnt, the mass gradually softens, beginning 

 at the sides, when it should be slowly stirred up with a heated iron 

 bar, and incorporated, till it acquires a semi-fluid consistence. This 

 part of the process requires considerable dexterity ; and, if the mass 

 continues dry, a little common salt should be thrown on, which acts as 

 a flux. When cold, it is broken up, and is now ready for sale. Not- 

 withstanding that kelp contains but two or three per cent, of carbon- 

 ate of soda, while Spanish barilla often contains twenty or thirty, the 

 manufacture of this article has increased prodigiously on the northern 

 coasts of Great Britain and the neighboring islands. Small farms in 

 the Orkneys, which formerly rented for <^'40 a year, have now risen 

 to c£300, on account of their kelp shores ; and so much importance is 

 attached to this branch of business, that, along sandy shores, stones 

 have been placed within the flood-mark, which, in a short time, be- 

 come covered with sea-weed. Many thousand tons are thus manufac- 

 tured annually, and are sold in the various ports of Great Britain, at 

 the rate of from 7 to <£10 per ton." " New England being the only 

 part of the United States which has a rocky coast, would seem to be 

 the only part of our country fitted for the manufacture of kelp. The 

 greater rise of the tides north of Cape Cod, and especially in the more 

 eastern parts, is also a favorable circumstance ; indeed, this branch of 

 business has been carried on in the state of Maine." 



The carbonate of soda comes to us under the name of barilla from 

 Spain; and the ordinary article is made abundantly on the shores of 



