8 



and handles twelve to twenty feet long. The cutting and 

 gathering of the vraic is a general holiday, terminating 

 usually in a frolic. It is only allowed twice a year : once in 

 February, beginning with the first new or full moon and 

 lasting five weeks ; and again in June, beginning in the 

 middle of the month and closing on the 31st of August. 

 Whole families will frequently unite, and, going to some 

 spot previously selected, work hard all day, the men stand- 

 ing up to their waists in water, using their unwieldy sickles 

 and rakes, and the women and children dragging the prize 

 up beyond the reach of the tido. With the coming of night 

 the sea-weed is removed in carts, and then all hands, meeting 

 at the house of some one of their number, spend the hours 

 in dancing and singing. During the first four weeks of the 

 summer cutting, only the poor, or those having no cattle, 

 are allowed to gather this harvest of the sea. That cast rip 

 by the waves may be taken at all seasons by any person 

 between the hours of sunrise and eight o'clock at night. 

 About sixty thousand loads are gathered annually, valued 

 for manurial purposes at about fifty cents per load. It is 

 applied either fresh at the rate of ten loads to the acre, or 

 in the form of ashes obtained by burning it, a load yielding 

 about three bushels of ash. There are two species of this 

 vraic, the Fucus and the Laminaria, and the following analy- 

 ses will give an idea of their value : 



ANALYSES OF VRAIC. 



