FUCI. 
noctial eurrents ; which may scatter them even towards 
the coasts of France and Norway. But’ how the 
fresh) weed is supplied ; by what» causes it is detached 
‘from depths perbege of forty or sixty fathoms, where 
it is generally thought the sea scarcely suffers agitation, 
are problems which remain to be solved. Lamouroux 
indeed states, that although fuci adhere firmly before 
the fructification appears, they separate very readily 
after this period; and Humboldt remarks, that fish and 
molluscous animals, by gnawing their stems, may also 
contribate to detach them. 
The spherical vesicles, supported on flat. stalks, and 
resembling juniper berries, interspersed on the stem 
and branches of the plants, were erroneously regarded 
by Linnzeus as the fructification ; but the true fructifi- 
cation, as ascertained by Turner, occurs in the form 
of cylindrical receptacles on the branches, inclosing glo- 
bular tubercles, which again contain the seeds. It may 
be noticed, that Don Hippolyto Ruiz, in his Flora of 
‘Peru, and in his pamphlet, “ De vera Fuci natantis 
‘Fructificationé,” described the sexual organs of the float- 
‘ing sea-weeds in a manner that'surprised botanists in 
general. Stamens and pistils were declared to be as 
‘obvious in this fucus as in most of the phanogamous 
vegetables! But the observations of M. Bonpland rec- 
tified the mistake of Ruiz.. Certain appendages in the 
form of little cups and feathers, which he took for the 
parts of fructification, were found, on close examination, 
to be nothing else than parasitical z ytes belonging 
to the family of ceratophyta. When dried, they effer- 
-vesced with acids, as the calcareous substance of any 
‘common sertularia or flustra would do. 
Very frequently the spherical vesicles, which have 
already been compared to juniper berries, are as large 
as small purple grapes, and have a striking resemblance 
tothem. For this reason, the name of J'ropic Grape is 
‘often applied to the floating sea-weed. Asa proof that 
the vesicles are intended in the case of F. natans, chief- 
‘ly to give buoyancy to the plant, Ruiz states that when 
die vesicles are all cut off, the plant sinks. 
» The great collections of floating sea-weed which 
‘have now been described, are not without their use in 
‘the economy of nature; for they afford both food and 
shelter to myriads of fishes and mollusca, and probably 
tend, by giving forth oxygen, to maintain the whole- 
some purity of the sea, To thé mariner, the young or 
most succulent shoots of F. natans offer an acceptable 
salad, or they are prepared as a pickle like samphire. 
; Economical Uses of Sea-weeds. 
Economical * It is observable on most coasts, that sea-weeds, or 
uses of sea- many 
weeds in ge- the roc 
es at least, v suddenly disappear from 
om in the sare They do not decay, like 
land plants, on the spot where they grow ; but, losing 
their hold, are washed ‘away by the tides ; and, in the 
narrow seas at least, generally wafted ashore to offer 
their services to man. Among the Romans, indeed; 
they were proverbially useless. When wished to 
stigmatise any thing as utterly worthless, it was de- 
clared to be wed projecta vilior ; and Horace, when he 
speaks 6f alga covering the shores as drift-ware, thrusts 
in the epithet inutilis. In modern times, the ‘alga ma- 
rina has become useful and valuable in various respects. 
To the agriculturist it furnishes a most: important ma- 
nure. To the glass-maker and soap-boiler it yields the 
_ fixed alkali ; and the manufacture of kelp for this pur- 
pose, has become a valuable source of revenue to the 
proprietors of the rocky shores of Europe, particularly. 
VOL. X. PART 1. - ; 
17 
of Britain, and more especially to those of the North- 
ern and Western Islands of Scotland. Of such im- 
portance has this manufacture appeared, that in some 
places attempts have even been made, and not without 
success, to cultivate the fuci. By merely covering sandy 
bays with large boulder stones, a crop of fuci has 
been procured in the course of two or three years, the 
sea appearing every where to abound with the neces- 
sary seeds. From the ashes of the fuci the chemist has 
of late years derived the very curious elementary sub- 
stance named iodine. Several of them are so rich in sac- 
charine matter, and vegetable mucilage, that on the 
shores of the northern countries of Europe, and in the 
Scottish islands, much of the winter provender of cattle 
is derived from them ; and in the city of Edinburgh 
these plants are occasionally given as a useful stimulus 
to the stomach of milch-cows kept in confinement du- 
ring the winter. A few of them even afford food to 
man. What might least of all-be expected, two or 
three of them furnish fuel to the inhabitants of coasts 
where materials for firing are scarce. Some of the 
smaller sorts yield various condiments, or afford fresh 
salads ; while others are employed as medicines. From 
a few of them, substances useful in the arts are pro- 
cured; and with some of the more delicate and ele- 
gant species, ornamental pictures are constructed. 
- While considering the different purposes to which 
marine plants may thus be applied, it may be agree- 
able to the reader to see the descriptions of those chief- 
ly employed, and more especially of such useful spe- 
cies as inhabit the British shores. The descriptions, 
however, must consist chiefly of the very accurate spe- 
cific characters drawn up by Mr Turner, to which some 
2) agri shall be added where they seem requisite. 
tis scarcely necessary to say, that every kind of sea- 
weed may be employed as manure. In point of fact, 
what is used for this purpose is that which is cast ashore 
by storms in the winter months, consisting of all sorts, 
mixed with zoophytes, and all the other rejectamenta 
of the sea. In many places, the value of such manure 
is duly ap reciated ; while in others it is unaccduntabl 
neglected ; not that it is any where entirely despised, 
but it frequently happens that on one day many 
tons of drift-ware are cast on a particular shore, and 
that on the next the whole is swept away. They who 
would avail themselves of this bounty of the deep, must 
snatch the moment of its being placed within their 
power, and muster all hands to drag it at least beyond 
the reach of the returning tide. It must not be left 
very long in the heap, nor suffered to run into the pu- 
trefactive fermentation; for in this. case, sulphureted 
hydrogen, and other gases highly important in pro- 
oe vegetation, escape rapidly, and in great quan- 
tity ; leaving a comparatively inert mass. But for de- 
tails as to the mode of applying this,-manure to lands, 
so as best to secure-its fertilizing effects, reference may 
be had to the article AcricuLTURE. 
Fuei. . 
—— 
As manure, 
' The nature of kelp, and the mode of its manufacture, For making 
are now generally understood. 
bonate of soda; containing sulphate ‘and: muriate of 
soda, and also sulphuret of soda;. with a portion of char- 
coal. In Scotland the manufacture is'carried on chiefl 
in the months of July and August.' The kelp kiln is 
nothing but a round pit or basin dug’ in the sand or 
earth onthe beach, and surrounded with a few loose 
stones.. In the morning a@-fire is kindled in this pit, 
generally by means of peat or turf. This fire is gradual- 
ly fed with sea-weed, in such a state of'dryness that it 
will merely burn, In the course of eight or ten hours, 
Whe TAMAS i. Sy 
It isa very impure car- kelp. 
