Seaweed and its Uses. 



333 



sorting the weed. They chop the leaves off with a knife, 

 cut them into fine strips, and heap them up into piles, 

 which have the appearance of a heap of moss, all which 

 occupies much time. 



Thus prepared, these seaweeds are the most sought after 

 for food purposes. The common seaweeds, after drying, 

 are formed into ballots, or small bales, by the men, and tied 

 up with some of the stems, which are of great strength. 

 These are then transported either to the towns and vil- 

 lages situated a long way from the coast, or shipped in 

 vessels to China. 



It can scarcely be doubted that at some future day, 

 when our clever European cooks have at their disposal 

 good, fresh, and young sprouts of certain species of algse, 

 they will succeed in preparing useful dishes, which, in 

 winter especially, will render signal service to the poorer 

 classes when fresh vegetables are scarce. Again, seaweeds 

 cooked and cut in thin slices, prepared as a salad, would 

 be a simple and novel preparation. Prepared in the 

 manner spinach is done in France, or with some sauce, 

 which would remove the salt-water flavour, they would 

 form a dish appreciated by all. 



In Japan, as we have seen, several kinds of seaweed are 

 used as food, and form important articles of the trade with 

 China. Generally they are natural products, which have 

 only to be collected ; but in certain cases their growth is 

 increased by some ingenious contrivance, devised for the 

 purpose of producing their development under the most 

 favourable circumstances. 



In the neighbourhood of Tokio, where the water is 

 shallow, long rows of branches of the Querciis sei^rata, 

 Thun., are placed in the bottom of the sea during spring. 

 In June or July, small buds of a reddish colour appear 



