Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-26
OCEAN PLANTS.
EXPLORING THE DEPTHS.
Edible ses-wesd. strange Fish'L'ne~' ana
the Happy Poiypcs-Curicsities or various

Edible sss-wesd. suanse Fish. Lines. and
the Happy Poiypcs-Cur,esities or variens |
Waters.
New York SUM-
Botanists class all sorts Of the Hover
less plants that grow in the water, and
that are commonly called sea-weed, UNI
der the general term of alg@. There
are great variety Of these plants.
Some of them are like particles of dust;
others spread ont to size and strength
to compare with hawsers, though they
don't look much like hawsers.
There are many curious and interest
ing things TO be told of sea-weeds, and
the number OF people who would make
a study Of such vegetation would be
much greater than it is if writers on
the subject would give names to the
plants which could he remembered
without any intimate knowledge OF
Latin. Thus, to begin with the small
est plants. it is asserted that the Red
sea got its name from the prodigiouS
quantity of small red plant that
spreads over the water under certain
circumstances. A much more common
variety Of the marine plants is found
in great quantities around the coast. of
the British islands. In the streets Of
Edinburgh you will see the yend
ers 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. Usually yod
will find multitude of minute she'll
fish clnging to the underSide Of the
leaf, and these give flavor to the leaf
which is greatly liked. The leaves are
eaten. either raw or cooked as greens
are in soups. They are also used in
place Of tobacco. The smoke Of
cigar rolled from dulse leaves is plea
SAINT and healthful.
A very abundant sort Of weed found
| in various forms almost all over the
world is the bladder wrack. 1t is dis
tinguished by its long arms or fronds,
as the botanists call them. which are
supported in the water by air bladders.
There is legend that great many
years ago crew of shipwrecked sailors
built fire of this weed. 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 valuable soda, and formed
a company to dig pits and burn
the weed to obtain this soda, which
bore the name Of kelp. The poor
working people along shore could not
understand the new method Of handling
the weed they used for mauurng their
fields. The thick, black smoke which
rose from the pits was foul, and the
company. like modern companies en-
gagged in useful occupations, were bru-
tally careless of the feelings of the peo-
pie around their works. Arrests AMI
suits followed, and learned counsel
told learned juriStS tina, the suiI1cating
smoke would destroy the sheep and cat
tie 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
hnow more about it twenty thousand
people engaged in the Orkneys alone
in gathering the weed that came 70
he called kelp and the Orkney man
in n foreign land grew home-Sick when
he recalled the wild cragS of his Ma
tive coasts and the rocks that covered
the beach when the tide was low.
for he saw a picture Of old comrades
stepping from rock to rock, cuttp,
the long frOnds of kclp from Their
roots, while women and children. win
song and jest and laughter, gather
the harvest into heaps.
To illustrate how and where tn,
weed grows, can tell you an incident.
Many years ago engineers undertooN
the job Of building lighthouse on p
rock at the mouth of the Firth Of Forth.
! The rock was about twenty by sixty
feet large, and was bare only at til,
lowest ebb Of spring tides. At ordi-
nary low tide it could be seen by ;he
gentures0me near the surface like tn
hack of some great green Sea-mon>ter
with long hair that waved up and down
in the water The first seasons worn
ofthe men Suificcd only to clear AMI level
the surface ofthe rock. In November the
wonk was abandoned, and not until the
Ist Of May did the weather moderate
so that they could begin again. When
they got to the rock on their first trip
they found that the surface which they
had left clean and level was a mass of
rank vegetation as long and luXuriant
as that which they had found when
they first began the work. And yet
the force Of the waves which dashed
against that rock was such that pieces
of granite were shattered and great
iron bars were twisted apart like pine
sticks.
The rocky shores of the coasts Of
Europe are famous for their luxuriant
grOwths of sea-Weed. One variety Is
known a. Lucky Mlnny'S lines. The
arms, or frOndS, grow to length Of
forty feet. When outer bark and gela-
tin0us tilamentS are removed the lrond
is found to be composed Of single fla
ment like a thread Of silk, that grows
in a coil, forming a tube, the edges Of
the flament adhering to each other.
This is uncoied by the coast people,
and when braided up in tour-ply cord
makes a fish = line Of extraordinary
strength.
DO you happen to carry pocket
knife with a buckhorn handle: All,
it is Of English make, too. 1t Is avery
good knife, but that handle is aS inuo-
cent Of buckhorn as a lead-pencil is Of
lead. The rough sides, which every
ore must admire. are made Of pieces
Of seaweed that is found, believe. cX-
clusively on the Scotland coast. 1t is
so much Ike buckhOrn when cleaned
and the cut-edges polished that experts
are often deceived. Another weed.
called grass wrack. is so much like hair
that it takes its place in mattresses and