THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
245 
delicate and ornamental varieties are selected by taste¬ 
ful hands, pressed, and sold during the Summer season 
to the curiosity dealer, who labels the more striking 
forms “Japan,” the next grade “Africa,” and so on, 
grading down the extent of their geographical distri¬ 
bution as they grow plainer, the common forms being 
all labelled “ coast of Maine.” In other .countries sea¬ 
weed is much more in demand, however, as the fisher¬ 
men are, as a class, extremely poor, while those of the 
New England States are the backbone and sinew of the 
land, and, as a class, well-to-do. The Scotch make 
much of their dulse, a red sea-weed. The Irish also 
have it, men, women and children collecting it, and to 
many it is a luxury. They call it dillesk ; while the 
currageen is so called from an Irish town of the name 
where it is found in unusual quantities. The term is 
applied to two species, both edible, and used mostly in 
producing blanc mange. By putting the fronds in 
warm water, the starch they secrete is forced out, and 
when allowed to cool forms a jelly sowell known by the 
above term. In the extreme northern countries of 
Europe the favorite weed is tangle, and dulse and tangle 
are hawked about in the streets of Edinburgh as are 
shrimps and crabs here. In Cliili a favorite delicacy 
among the native epicures is the weed known as 
D' Urvillcea utilis — one of the largest and most magnifi¬ 
cent productions of the sea. It grows in the surf off 
the coast, also at the Falkland Islands, and forms 
gigantic cables, hundreds of feet long, larger than the 
human body, resembling a huge snake, and requiring 
forty or lift}' men to drag one plant upon the shore. 
The appearance of these monster vines, beating and 
writhing to and fro amid the waves, is remarkable, 
looking like a mass of huge marine snakes, and forming 
a formidable obstacle to the progress of boats, often 
upsetting them. 
EDIBLE BIRDS’ NEST. 
The weed known as aimed is valued in England for its 
nutritive properties. Probably the choicest delicacy of 
this class obtainable in China is the nest of the esculent 
swallow, that is made up of a sea-weed collected by the 
bird, and considered by Asiatic epicurians a great dainty. 
The nest weighs about half an ounce, and is shaped like 
that of the common swallow, the flat side being 
attached to the rock. One in my possession is of extreme 
delicacy, seemingly composed of fibres cemented by a 
secretion that the bird had taken from some sea-weed. 
They are found in vast numbers in the caves and 
crevices about the Islands of the Archipelago ; also at 
Sumatra, particularly at Croee, near the southerly por¬ 
tion of the Island, where they are jealously watched by 
the Javanese and Cliinese, who make a business of col¬ 
lecting them. While our swallows will build an elabor¬ 
ate dwelling of fantastic shape in a single day, the 
edible-nest builder toils two months before the delicate 
shelf is completed. Two eggs are then deposited, and 
after fifteen days the young appear. When they are 
able to fly, the nest-hunters descend to the spot by bam¬ 
boo ladders and native ropes—a dangerous operation, in 
which many lives are lost yearly. At first the nests are 
a delicate amber color or pure white, and in this state 
are much valued ; those are allowed to remain until 
the young are reared being black, requiring a certain 
curing before they are. placed upon the market. As 
soon as a large number are collected they are dried in 
the sun, and packed in small boxes, eacfi containing 
half a picul. The first quality are worth from $15 to 
$20 a pound. The very finest nests, taken before 
eggs are laid, bring prices even higher than the above 
quoted, and are reserved for the nobles of the Chinese 
nation, by whom they are eaten in soups, broths, and 
various ways. To the American palate the dish is 
acceptable, and reminds one of green turtle soup, 
cooked and served as it should be. There are three or 
four swallows that erect edible nests, but the Collocalia 
niclifica is the only one that is really of great commer¬ 
cial value, the others being only used by the very poor 
classes of natives whose homes are by the caves in which 
the birds are found. 
Sea-weeds are not alone used for the farm and table. 
Much of the iodine of commerce is obtained from 
certain kinds. For many years large establish¬ 
ments were carried on in various parts of the world, 
but principally in Scotland and the northern islands, 
producing from kelp the alkai soda used in mak¬ 
ing soap, glass, etc., and until the discovery of Le¬ 
blanc — that soda could be made from common salt— 
kelp was the only prop to this great industry. The 
ashes of the kelp, that is so common on our shores, is 
known as varec in France and barilla in Spain and 
Sicily. The masses of weed are dried in great stone ovens 
for the purpose upon the shore, and eventually fuse into 
a solid mass, which is sent to market in convenient 
pieces — twenty-four tons of ashes being used to produce 
one ton of available varec. 
A GIANT WEED. 
The giant weed Marcrocystis pyrifera, immense beds 
of which are found in every latitude, possesses a value 
in yet another direction. It grows to the immense 
lenght of 700 feet, forming such barriers on rocky 
shores that many a ship has been saved by its effect 
upon the sea. Myriads of animals live in and upon its 
smooth, round stems and broad, shining leaves—crabs, 
cuttle-fishes, echini-woims, and even fishes, that form a 
part of the food of the inhabitants of the coast. Not 
only this, but the barrier of weed on shores whore the 
sea is particularly heavy, affords protection to various 
animals that live in-sliore and are necessary to. the 
inhabitants, who would otherwise be deprived of them. 
On this point Darwin says: “Amid the leaves of this 
plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else 
could find food or shelter: with their destruction 
the many cormorants and other fishing birds, the otters, 
seals, and porpoises, would soon perish also; and 
lastly, the Fuegian savage—the miserable lord of this 
miserable land—would redouble his cannible feast, de¬ 
crease in numbers, and perhaps cease to exist.” A 
strange idea that the fate of a nation should hang upon 
a bed of sea-weed, but a -fact pure and simple. These 
great plants are the weeds of the ocean, growing pro¬ 
fusely and with exceeding rapidity. For example, it is 
#aid that a rock covered with the weed was exposed by 
the spring tide and found perfectly bare in the follow¬ 
ing November; when examined in the ensuing May, or 
six months later, it was covered with a growth of weed 
from two to six feet in length. Though the macrocystis 
is one of the largest known, others of the 6,000 species 
known to science, are almost as remarkable. The 
