4:2 Remarks on the Crude Sodas of Commerce. 



plants, which grow in the vicinity of the sea. The best is 

 brought from Alicant, Malaga, and Carthagena, in Spain ; 

 it is obtained from an annual plant, the salsola sativa, which 

 is cultivated and cured like hay, and afterwards burnt in 

 holes dug in the earth. From the great quantity of soda it 

 contains, it melts into thick paste, which on cooling, becomes 

 condensed into a stonelike mass ; the popular name of this 

 plant in Spain, is barilla. So highly is this plant esteemed in 

 Spain, that, according to Mr. Parkes, the exportation of the 

 seed is prohibited, under penalty of death. There are several 

 varieties of the salsola cultivated on the shores of the Med- 

 iterranean, especially in the island of Sicily, and also in the Ca- 

 nary Isles, which yield an abundance of soda. For conven- 

 ience, all the crude sodas obtained by the combustion of 

 land plants, may be called barilla. The barilla most com- 

 mon in our market is brought from Spain, Sicily and Teneriffe. 

 Although many parts of the United States are favorably situ- 

 ated, I have known but one attempt to cultivate them. It 

 was made on the eastern shore of Maryland, from seed pro- 

 cured for the purpose in Sicily. The attempt failed, owing 

 evidently to the imperfection of the seed. 



The increased demand for soda for the arts throughout 

 the civilized world, has led men to seek other sources from 

 which this useful substance may be procured. Modern sci- 

 ence and industry have succeeded in extracting a large supply 

 from marine plants, which were accounted so entirely worth- 

 less among the ancients, that alga projecta vilior was a com- 

 mon proverb at Rome. The substance procured by the com- 

 bustion of these plants is called by the French varech, and 

 by the English kelp. The inhabitants of the coast of Europe 

 have been in the habit, from time immemorial, of collecting 

 the sea weed, wrack or sea ware, as it is indiscriminately cal- 

 led in Great Britain, and manufacturing it into a coarse al- 

 kali, for domestic purposes. It is only, however, within a cen- 

 tury that any attempt has been made in Great Britain to pre- 

 pare the kelp in a large way. It was in the year 1723 that 

 this substance was first brought into the market as an article 

 of merchandize. But the great consumption of the alkalies 

 in the modern arts, especially by the bleacher, soap and glass 

 manufacturer, and other manufacturing chemists, has attract- 

 ed move and more attention to the subject, until the manufac- 

 ture of kelp in Great Britain has become a very important 

 department of industry. I am under the impression that 

 kelp has never been brought into our market, or attempted to 



