Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-08-29
ALONG THE SEASHORE.
GATHERING SEA moSSEs ON THE
 BEACH AT coNeY ISLAND.
Preparing Specimens for the curiosity Dsaisrs-"nosses'' Not An vsge- table--skats Egxs"-GtAnt
 Moses and seaweed
New York Sun.l

New York sun.l
 Found it?" asked 6 short. cdd-looking old man, with a tin can over his shoulder. of a person who was wandering along the Coney island beach
 -Found what?" queried the latter.
 -Why, what you're huntin for.
 @Tm not hunting for anything. said the other.
 Nor I. either, said the old man. but that's what some one asked me while ago They said I looked as If 1 was try ing to find gold mine After all. every body that walks along shore rather ex- poets to find something that has been washed up; it's natural come down every year, continued the old man. and collect few odds and ends. chiefly for the children. Shells big-neck clans, make famous things for them to dig with. and then my girl. she's in the moss business Never heard of the moss business1 Why. bless you my oldest girl makes s or $6 week pressin' moss. You see come here and 10 Rockaway about once a week in the season. and go browsin' round and pick up the best moss can find. You see il s generally all mixed up in the sand. and most folks wouldn't notice 1t. and those that did wouldn't think 1t was worth col lectin'.
 five found few pieces today" and the speaker opened his can and took out a handful of rich green. purple. and red weed Look rich, don't theyg But they look better after my girl Nancy takes them in hand How Is it donel Why, easy enough. She takes and washes them in fresh water and then trims them up in just the shape she wants and puts on a wash of diluted gum arabic; then they are spread on paper, and if they are delicate they are picked out into shape under or lust at tho surface of the wste- with a needle Then she takes them out. puts piece of clean linen over them. then another piece of paper. and then puts the whole thing in between two boards and hours it's done, and the moss Is dry and pressed into the paper, so that you can pass your finger right over it without feelin' it, and the color nsver fades; its . joy forever She then sets t-em on a stiff paper, puts on the scientific name and where her old father found them habita, she calls it-snd they are ready for the market Some she sells 10 schools; others are bound up into books; and she's got fne collection, can tell you. She sells a good many to the cu- riosity dealers. and so her work and mine goes all over the country. guess we're about the only ones right in the business Nancy's going to branch out next winter. She has . friend in Nassau and another in California: they arc goin' to send her moss, SO she will have specimens from widely different parts of the world
 @Its astonishin', said the old collector. @how little folks know about these ordi- nary things along shore. Now. dare say you think that all the moss I've got here Is vegetablef"
 @Isn't iff" asked the listener. to humor bis new acquaintance
 -Why, bless you. no never knew it myself till one day Nancy said, I wonder if 1t hurts these animals to crush themf Plants, you mean, said | No. they re animals, she said, and she showed me the little cells the little critters lived in polYgons. she called them, and tell you 1t takes an expert to tell plant from ami mal in moss; they all look alike tn me. Take the sand collars you often find e: what do people think they are, heard one man say they were the print of 8 horses hoof hardened Another thought they were only sand; but if you hold one up to the light and look through it you can see what it IS in a minute it's the eggs of the shell called the natica You know these black four-cornered ob jects that wash ashoref We'll. they of people think they are fruit oi Some Kind. but they are skate eggs and nothing else You see the folks that come down here most don't have the time or the inclination to hunt out these things The beauty of a-soft clsm Is in the cooki-g. and of the Little Neck in the way 1t Is served They don't care about the habits of the creature.
 Sea moss Is more or less valuable all over the world. In Ireland the poorer classes depend greatly upon the carrsgeen moss. and some lirs upon It for mo.ths in each year It is imported in large quantities. and used as blanc mange and in various ways. The Scotch have their dulse. and in the Hebrides the tsngle is eaten. In South America the natives eat the moss that Is known as D'Urvil'oea utilis. It is a giant of its kind, sometimes attains length of several hundred feet. and is so stout that a small vessel could anchor by one One found of the coast of Chih was so heavy that 1t took sixty men 10 drag 1t ashore. lt grows in the breakers. and rolling about appears like huge snakes. and often upsets boats that become entangled in it
 Larger still Is the great weed Macrocys- tis pyrifers, that sttains length of 6j0 feet or more. It also grows in the break CTS. and 's of great importance 10 some coasts. as, were 1t not for it's protection. the sea would beat so furiously that no fcha rrptNld nrnf In ahnro and bo kah i,ants would be deprived of means of sup port This Is especially true of the south Paiagonisn coast, and SO important did Darwin consider it that be once wrote: Amid the leaves of this plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could find food or shelter; with their de- struction the many cormorant and other fishing birds. the otters. seals, and DOT poises would soon persish also: and lastly, the Fuegian savage-the miserable lord of this miserable land-would redouble his feast. decrease in numbers, and perhance cease 10 exist
 The seaweed collectos of New England uses kelp to keep htm warm. and in vari- ous parts of Europe it is used as a medi- cine, a greater part of the iodine of trade being made from it Formerly the alkai soda used in the manufacture of soap. glass. and various articles was derived from kelp. but it Is now made from other sources In France the kelp is placed in great furnaces and dried. finally fusing into a solid mass that is known as varec. and in Spain as barrilla About twenty four tons of weed produces @ single ton of varec. that is shipped to manufacturers in the bulk. and finally used in the manu- facture of iodine