THE UTILIZATION OF SEAWEEDS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



By HUGH M. SMITH, 

 Deputy U. S. Fish Commissioner. 



With seaweed resources certainly not inferior to those of Japan or any other 

 country, and probably much superior, the United States may be said practically to 

 ignore these valuable products except at a few points on its extensive coast. Statis- 

 tics recently gathered give the paltry sum of $35,000 as the value of the marine alga' 

 prepared in the United States in one year. The business is practically restricted to 

 Massachusetts, and is addressed to a single species, the "Irish moss" {Chondrus eris- 

 pus). Considerable quantities of seaweeds are used as fertilizer on farms adjacent to 

 the coast, but this is not a commercial enterprise. In Monterey and Santa Barbara 

 counties, Cal., the Chinese fishermen dry certain ' algae for. food, medicine, and fer- 

 tilizer; in 1S99 the quantity prepared was 35,824 pounds, valued at &896. 



There is undoubtedly a good opportunity to develop the seaweed industry of 

 every section of the United States coasts, and to establish a profitable trade in the 

 various species and preparations of marine alga? along the new lines indicated in 

 the foregoing paper on the Japanese seaweed industry, as well as by increasing the 

 output of the species already sparingly utilized. To this end the following informa- 

 tion and suggestions are offered in regard to some of the useful algae of the United 

 Slates. 



IRISH MOSS, OK CARRAGEEN (ChondntS CriSJOUs). 



This alga is found from North Carolina to Maine, being especially abundant 

 north of Cape Cod, growing on rocks just below low-water mark. The fronds are 3 

 to ti inches long and usually purple, but when growing exposed to a bright light are 

 yeuowish-green. There are various other algae considered to be quite as useful as 

 Chondrus crispus for the purposes for which the latter is gathered. Among them 

 are several species of Chondrus found on the" California coast; various species of 

 Gracilaria, found from Key West to Cape Cod and also on the Pacific coast; 

 Eueheuma isiforme, found in the Key West region; and Gi.gartina maw.illosa and 

 numerous other species of Gigartina, which closely resemble < 'hondrus and abound 

 on our east and west coasts. 



The plant has from time to time been gathered on various parts of the New 

 England coast, but at present is utilized at only a few localities in New Hampshire 

 and Massachusetts, the principal .place being Scituate, where it would seem the busi- 

 ness has always been more important than at any other place on our coast. It is 

 recorded (Wilcox, 1887) that prior to 1835 the small quantity of Irish moss used in 

 this country was imported from Europe and sold here at one to two dollars a pound, 

 and that in the year named Dr. .1. V. C. Smith, at one time mayor of Boston, made 

 it generally known that the "moss" which abounded on the Massachusetts shores 



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