320 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



coast, ranging between low-water line and the depth of 

 40 feet or so ; but as a rule its fronds, which correspond 

 to the leaves of air plants, are so numerously inhabited by 

 small mollusca that they are spoiled for other use. The 

 clean-growing article seems to be limited almost wholly to 

 certain ledges in the neighbourhood of Scituate, Massa- 

 chusetts. Here, where the waves of the Atlantic dash with 

 full force upon the rocky coast, the carrageen grows to per- 

 fection ; and, wherever it escapes the spawn of mussels and 

 other shell-fish, is gathered during the summer season in 

 vast quantities. The harvest begins in May and ends 

 about the ist of September. 



The gathering is made in two ways — by hand-picking 

 during exceptionally low tides, and by means of long- 

 handled iron-toothed rakes at ordinary tides. Of course 

 the work cannot be carried on except in fair weather. 

 Hand-pulling is possible only during the bi-monthly 

 periods of spring tides, that is, when the moon is full and 

 again at new moon. At such times high tides occur about 

 midday and midnight, and the ledges are exposed for moss 

 gathering morning and evening. The mossers' boats are 

 rowed to the rocks where the finest grades abound, and the 

 gatherers select with care the growths that are freest from 

 minute shells and other foreign matter. This portion of 

 the crop, if properly handled afterwards, generally goes to 

 the apothecary, and fetches a price two or three times that 

 of the common grade. As the tide rises the pickers are 

 driven to their boats, and proceed to the outer moss- 

 bearing rocks, where the rake is used, as it also is during 

 ordinary low tides. Moss taken in this way is not so clean 

 as the hand-picked, and is always mixed with tape grass, 

 which must be removed during the process of curing and 

 packing. 



