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i 64 
and then stored up in ricks or stacks in the 
same manner as hay, and finally carried inland, 
when wanted, at one-fourth or one-sixth the cost 
of fresh, wet ware. 
The med ware—or, par excellence, sea-ware—is 
sometimes cast ashore in great quantities, and 
always comes very irregularly, and is controlled by 
winds, tides, and currents, and may be swept 
away again the very next tide after it arrives ; 
so that it needs to be closely watched, and igre 
be taken just when it can be got, aa ought al- 
ways to be promptly gathered and immediately 
carted or boated off. A vast trade in it 1s car- 
ried on by the fishermen of the rugged and 
sinuous coasts in the vicinity of some of the 
_ larger ports of the west of Ireland. It needs no 
preparation for manurial use, as 1t contains no 
woody fibre, or other stubborn principlesrequiring 
chemical reduction ; and it is always most pro- 
fitable when applied in as recently gathered state 
as possible, for it loses both bulk and fertilizing 
substance by exposure, drying, or fermentation. 
Fresh sea-ware produces very powerful fer- 
tilizing effects, but generally does not act longer 
than a single season. It consists organically of 
cellular tissue, and contains a very large proportion 
of water, or of the elements of water ; and, when 
simply exposed to the air, either on the surface 
of the ground, or within the upper part of the 
soil, it melts and mainly disappears without 
evolving any appreciable heat. It contains much 
soluble mucilage ; and passes largely, by brief or 
rapid fermentation, into carbonic acid and wa- 
tery vapour; and probably offers copious supplies 
of the former of these proximate principles in 
solution in water for absorption by the spongioles 
of growing plants of the field. It was formerly 
thought to fertilize chiefly by means of carbonic 
acid, and to be neither a nitrogenous manure, 
nor a very good saline one; but, though it cer- 
tainly emits, in the process of decomposition, a 
very different odour from that of nitrogenous land 
plants, it has been ascertained, in some instances, 
to contain a greater proportion of nitrogen than 
even ordinary farm-yard manure; and, in asfar at 
least as it is identified with the kelp-yielding fuci, 
it is known to excel almost all other fresh vege- 
table substances, bulk for bulk, in the amount 
of its saline principles. ‘“ Much of the fertilizing 
power of sea-weeds,” says Dr. Shier, “is no 
doubt due to the large quantity of alkaline and 
earthly salts they contain. The proportion of 
alkaline salts varies considerably in different 
species; so much so, that kelp-burners use chiefly 
the firm coriaceous species that grow about and 
under low water-mark; such as: the Mucus digi- 
tatus, IF’. nodosus, F’. saccharinus, &c., while they 
reject or account of much less value, the Hucus 
serratus, F. vesiculosus, F. canaliculatus, and others 
that grow in shallower water. In the absence of 
accurate analyses of the inorganic part of these 
plants, it is not possible to speak with precision 
of their relative values ; but on the shores of the 
SHA-W ARE. 
north of Scotland, I have uniformly found that 
the most observant farmers, who have had much 
experience in the use of sea- weeds as a ma- 
nure, manifest the same preferences as kelp- 
burners.” 
Sea-ware, in a reh state, acts admirably when 
laid on stubbles before winter ploughing, and on 
leas before being ploughed for oats, and on wheat 
fallows before the seed-furrowing. The late Dr. 
Browne of Gorlstone, in Suffolk, records, that, in | 
October, 1819, he spread 27 huge cart-loads of 
loose sea-ware, fresh and wet, upon little more 
than an acre of bean-stubble, instantly ploughed 
it in, and dibbled wheat upon it,—that in the 
same month he manured the adjoining land with 
3 bushels of salt and 15 loads of farm-yard ma- 
nure per acre, and on the 15th of November 
dibbled it with wheat,—and that, as the result 
of this comparative trial, the sea-weeded portion 
gave three times the produce of any equal part 
of the field. 
Sea-ware is an excellent top-dressing for grass 
lands, under the alternate husbandry, both pro- 
ducing a rich covering of deep green grass, and 
predisposing the land very favourably for the 
succeeding grain crop; and when laid on the 
grass in either summer or autumn, it rapidly 
disappears, and soon becomes traceable only in its 
effects. Some farmers and many market-gar- 
deners, particularly on some of the eastern sea 
boards of Scotland prefer sea-ware to all other 
manure for cabbages, borecoles, and other succu- 
lent green crops which are liable to become rank 
and bitter when grown after farm-yard manure. 
Many cottiers and small farmers, especially in 
Ireland, and also some large cultivators, applaud 
and practise the use of it in drills as a manure 
for potatoes ; but others condemn this use of it 
as injurious to the mealiness and flavour of the 
tubers. 
A grand use of sea-ware, or rather class of 
uses, is to treat it as a main and modifying in- 
gredient in composts. “The quality of earthy 
composts and of farm-yard dung,” remarks Mr. 
Donaldson, “is prodigiously improved by a mix- 
ture of sea-weed. In these cases, it is laid on 
the top of the heaps before they are turned over, 
and a bottom of loose friable earth is generally 
provided to absorb the oozings of the mixture. 
Sea-weed is very profitably used in mixing the 
farm-yard dung in the yards in thin layers alter- 
nately with straw ; and manure of a most ex- 
cellent quality has been produced by this method. 
During the seasons of sea-weed coming on the 
shore, the farmers have heaps of dung or 
soil in readiness to receive the immediate bene- 
fit of the wrack ; and these heaps, along with 
any lands that may be in a state fit to receive it, 
afford a ready application of this invaluable 
article. Farm-yard dung for turnips is improved 
by it almost beyond description ; moisture is im- 
parted, the straw is decomposed, and the whole 
mass is converted into a juicy mucilaginous state, 
