, 1885-08-21
PLANTS OF r4e OCEAN.
Tales OF seAweeds-sirange rsh Lines
"huckhorn" aud Bladder wrack.

100 III " NAA
less plants that grow in the water. and
that are commonly called seawerd,
under the general term Of algg. there
are a great variety of these plants. Some
OF them are like particles OF dust; others
spread out to a 81 Q and strength to
comparc with hawsers, though they
don { look much like hawsers.
there are many curious and interest
ing things to be told OF seaweeds, and
the numler of people who would make
a study Of such vegetation would 10
much greater than 1t is il writer's on
the sub ect would give names TO the
plants which could 10 remcml erod
without any intimate knowledge Of
] attn. Thus, to legin with the small
est plants il is Inserted that the Red
sea got lis name from the prodigious
quantity OF "A small red plant that
spreads over the water under certain cir
cumstances. A much more common
variety OF the marine plants is found in
great quantities around the coast of the
british islanda. In the streets Of Edin-
burg you will see tho vendors going up
and down crying, "Dulse and tankle. -
They carry great punches of the dull
red leaves, which are sold for food.
They are on sale in this country to a
limited extent, and the taste Is not at
all bad. Usuallyyou will find n multi
tude of minute shell fish clinging TO the
underside OF the leaf, which is greatly
liked. The leaves are eaten either raw
or cooked rs greens are in soups. They
are also used in place of tobacco. Tho
smoke of a cigar rolled from dulse
leaves is pleasant and healthful.
a very abundant sort of weed found
in vario1s forms almost all over the
world is tho bladder wrack. 1t is dis
tinguished by its long arms or fronds,
as the b%otanists call them, which are
supported in the water by air bladders.
There is a legend that a great many
years ago n crew OF shipwreoked sailors
built n tire of this weel, which they
found along the shore. When the FIRE
had died out they found a dark cake
where the ashes should have been, and
In wonder carried it away with them.
A chemist found that the cake was a
valuable soda. and formed a company
to dig pits and Burn the weed to obtain
this soda, which bore the name of kelp.
Tho poor working people along shore
could not understand the new method
of handing the weed they used for ma
nuring their fields. The thick black
smoke which rose from the pits was
foul, and the company, like modern
companies engaged in useful occupa-
tons, were brutally careless of the feel
ings Of the people around its works.
Arrests and suits followed, and
learned counsel told learned jurists that
the sufIocating smoke would destroy the
sheep and cattle of the neighborhood,
drive the fish from the coasts, and
create an epidemic among the populace.
But they were mistaken. When the
people got to know more about it 20, 900
people engaged in the Orkneys alone in
gathering the weed that came TO DO
JAILED kelp, and the Orkney man in a
foreign land grew homesick when he re-
called the wild crags of his native coast
and the rocks that covered tho beach
when the tide was low, for he saw n pic
ture Of old comrades stepping from rock
to rock cutting the long fronds of keip
from their roots, while women and chill
dren, with song and jest and laughter,
gathered the harvest into heaps.
The rocky shores of the coasts Of Eu-
rope arc famous for their luxuriant
growths of seaweed. One variety is
Known as Lucky Minny's lines. Tho
arms, or fronds, grow to a length OF
forty feet. When outer bark aud CELIA
tinous hlaments are removed the frond
is found to be composed of a single hla-
ment like a thread OF silk, that grows
in a coil, forming u tube, the edges Of
the hlament adhering TO each other.
This is uncoiled by the coast people,
and when braided up in a four-ply cord
makes a fish line of great strength.
Do you happen 10 carry a pocket
knife with a buckhorn handler All, il
is of nglish make, too. 1t is a very
good knife, but that handle is as limo
cen Of buckhorn as a lead pencil is Of
lead. The rough sides, which every
one must admire. are made of pieces
of seaweed that Is found, l believe, e0-
clusively on the Scotland coast. 1t is
so much like buckaorn when cleaned
and tho cut edges polished that experts
are often deceived. Another weed,
called grass-wrack, is 50 much like hair
that it takes its place in mattresses and
cushions beside the genuine article.
In tho mighty waves that dash on tho
rocks on Terra del iuego, after rolling
across an almost limit IS ocean there is
a kind of weed with a stem that reaches
the surface through 40S feet of water.
II is u bladder wrack. Under its leaves,
Darwin says, there are numerous kinds
OF fish and bivalyes that could get an
existence nowhere else. Great fiocks of
seagulls, divers and other birds subsist
on the fish, as vel as seals and offers,
while from the animals, fish and birds
the wretched inhabitants OF that inhos-
pitable country gain a living.
Another curious variety of the south
ern scaweed is the gigantic Lessonie of
the alkland islands. 1t has a body of
perhaps eight feet long and n foot in
diameter, a sort oil log, from one end
OF which trailing vines grow out in all
directions. The weed is often uprooted,
and adrilt in tho open sea the long
vines rool up into monster cables hun
dreds of feet long and often two ieet
In diameter. should one Of these get
foul Of n ship it is a tiresomo Job TO
cut il adritt, for cut it must be. No
ship can mako Roadway with such a
drag ont.
A bladder wrack peculiar to the
Alaskan waters rises from the bottom
In the form OF a rib on no thicker than
q sheet Of paper, and perhaps two inches
wide, Specimens have been obtained
that were LOO feet long. AT the sur
face OF the water a great clean crown is
formed from which leaves which divide
ike antlers grow the length OF thirty or
forty feet. There arc big air bladders
IL the bases OF these leaves which form
the favorite resting places Of the yalua-
BILE sea otter as IL watches its prey
swimming around below. Like the
hlaments of Lucky Minny's lines, the
hbers Of this plant are used for fish
lines by the inhabitants along the coast
One would think that some enterprising
Yankee would bring a cargo OF those
long ribbon, TO New York, aud work
them up INTO rope and bagging. if not
into the liner goods made frcn lax.
Nervous DebiIitntrd Men
You are allowed a free trial Of thirty