Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-03-06
PLANTS OF THE OCEAN.
Tales OF seaweeds-stranee V'sh Lines
"Buckhorn'' and Bladder wrack.
"

1
buekhorn" and Bladder wrack.
New York Sun.
Botanists class all sorts of the lower
less plants that grow in the water, anC
that arc commonly called seaweed
under the general term of alge. Their
are great variety of these plants Som,
oil them are like particles Of dust; other
spread out TO size and strength Il
compare with hawsers, though the,
don look much like hawsers.
there are many curious and interest
ing things to be told of seaweeds. anc
the number OF people who would max,
study of such vegetation would hC
much greater than it is If writer's on
the subject would give names to the
plants which could DO remembered
without any intimate knowledge OF
attn. Thus, to begin with the small
est plants, it Is asserted that the Red
sea got its name from the prodigious
quantity OF q small red plant that
spreads over the water under certain cir
cumstances. A much more common
variety of tho marine plants is found in
great quantities around the coast of the
British islands. In the streets of Edin.
burg you will sec the vendors going up
and down crying, "Dulse and tankie. .
They carry great lunches Of the dull
red leaves, which are sold for food
They are on sale in this country to n
limited extent, and the taste is not ut
all bad. Usually you will find 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 as greens are in soups. They
are also used i'll place of tobacco. The
smoke OF cigar rolled from dulse
leaves is pleasant and healthfuI
A very abundant sort of weed found
in various forms almost all over the
world is the bladder wrack. Il is dis.
tmguished by its long arms or fronds
as the Gotanists call them, which are
supported in the water by air bladders.
There is legenI that a great many
years ago crew of shipwrccked sailors
built q fire of this weed, which they
found along the shore. When the fra
had died out they found dark cake
where the ashes should have been. and
In wonder carried it away with them.
A chemist found that the cake was n
valuable soda, and formed a companv
to dig pits and burn the weed to obtain
his soda, which bore the name of kelp.
The 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-
lions, 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 sufTocating smoke would destroy the
sheep and cattle of tho 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 90. 900
people engaged in the Orkneys alone in
gathering tho weed that came to be-
called 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 the beach |
when the tide was low, for he saw nic-
ture OF old comrades stepping from rock
to rock cutting the long fronds of kelp
from their roots, while women and cb,i.
dren, with song and jest and laughter
gathered the harvest into heaps
The rocky shores of the coasts of En-.
rope are famous for their luxuriant
groWths of seaweed. One variety is
known as Lucky Minny's lines. The
arms, or fronds, grow to a length of
forty feet. When outer bark and CELIA.
linous tilaments are removed the frond
IS found to be composed of a single fila
ment like thread of silk, that grows
n coil, forming tube, the edges of
The filament adhering to each other
This is uncoiled by the coast people
and when braided up in four-pfy cord
makes fish. line of great strength.
DO you happen to carry q pocket
lnife with buckhorn handlel An, il
s of English make, too 1t is a very
sood knife, but that handle is as limo.
'ent of buckhorn as a lead pencil is of
cad. The rough sides, which every I
me must admire. are made OF pieces
# seaweed that is found, l believe, ex- {
'lusively on the Scotland coast. It il 3
10 much like buckaorn when cleaned
md the cut edges polished that experts
re often deceived. Another weed
allied grass wrack, is so much like hair /
hat it takes its place in mattresses and I
ushions beside the genuine article. 6
In the mighty waves that dash on the '
ocks on Terra del tuego, after rolling i
cross an almost limitless ocean there is t
kind of weed with stem that reaches r
he surface through 400 feet of water. v
IS bladder wrack. Under its leaves v
,arwin says, there are numerous kinds a
t fish and biyalves that could get an C
xistence nowhere else Great fiocks of n
eagulls, divers and other birds subsist d
n the fish, as well as seals and offers. d
lille from the animals, fish and birds t
ne wretched inhabitants of that inhos- d
liable country gain living. el
Another curious variety of the south IL
m seaweed is the gigantic Lessonie of Il
Re falkland islands. 1t has a body of
erhaps eight feet long and one foot in
!ameter, sort of log, from one end
which trailing vines grow out in all :,
rections. The weed is often uprooted. y,
nd adritt in the open sea the long T.