The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1901-02-02
dATHERERS OF SEA MOSS
\ PROFITABLE INDUSTRY OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS, SOUTH SHORE.

Used More for Purifying Eeer Than nj
Food = Tho Curing Proce.s Good Re
turns for the "MOssers" During the
Season-Ten Dollars Earned in Day
The family name is hard to trace
lnless one has studied the genealogy
II such things. Moss" is what the
nossers themselves call it. To any
observer it is obviously sea moss, as
grows in the ocean, but the most dis
.inguished encyclopedia authority has
40 such heading or subheading as sea
moss. After going through pages OF
nosses in vain, it appears to the pa
lent student that Iceland moss is a
ichen, but even the pages OF lichens
'ail to produce the specimen in Ques-
ion.
1t occurs to the middle-aged gentle
nan that the real name is carrageen.
or Irish moss, and it is located in the
scaweed family. being more closely al
led to animals than to ,nosses.
'Chondrus crispus" is the scientific
lame. and all the others are no more
appropriate than "Scituate" would be
'or at Scituate and Plymouth great
quantities are harvested every season
Fifty years ago blanc-mange was not
only common article of diet, but also
parties and church sociableS LII many
,upboards there are today the quaint
iaring goblets which were made for
olanc-mange glasses, and have outlived
.heir usefulness. Irish moss was a
! marketable article in those days, but
messing was not big industry, and
| The product Of the South Shore rocks
was probably not tenth Of what it is
.oday, says the Boston Herald.
| Irish moss has been put to new use
within recent years, and instead of
| being gathered for food it is now
,, gathered for drink. This information
| came from a silent man who was rak
ing over the drying moss on the beach
1t Plymouth rs this the kind of moss
they make blanc-mange OF ?" yes"
is it ready to be cooked when you
get through with it," Yes" Isn't it
people of this country to eat?" "No.
We would starve to death on what is
sold for food" What is it sold for,
them" For beer" "Is that SO? Do
the breweries use it instead Of hops?"
No; for purifying the beer" This
was new light The picturesque rows
of tubs mounds and patches. the pa
lent drying and washing and bleach
ing were then all for beer.
The mosser requires Of nature two
things-submerge rocks for the moss
to grow on and clean, sandy beach
for it to dry on The Scituate cliffs
are famous for the seas that beat
against them, eating them away and
in the last great storm cutting out a
new harbor behind them. There
are four of these cliffs and
at the base of each is rough pile
Of boulders which have been washed
out Of the sand and gravel and become
scattered in water deep enough to
suit the moss. South of Plymouth. and
at White Horse beach, where the moss
is also gathered, the same sort of eat
ing away of the hills has been going
on, and the bottom along shore is
strewn with rocks, while between the
cliffs and rocky promontories the
washed-out sand has lodged and
formed the beaches needed for curing
the moss.
The mossers outfit begins with a
fine n Ixn q
der wooden handle II or Is
feet long. He rows out to the rocks on
the ebb tide when the water is smooth
enough so that he can see the bottom
clearly The moss is very dark green
and looks black in the deep water
completely covering the rock upor
which it grows. The mosser reache!
down with his rake and gets it's teeth
filled with the stunted plants, which
grow only three or four inches high
Each rakeful is dumped right before
him in the widest part Of the dory, and
on the food tide, when the water gets
too deep for further work, the mossei
rows back to shore. The great black
heap of moss covers up his legs, and
rises a foot or more above the sides OF
the boat. In deep spots it is possible
to work only a short time before ano
after dead low-water. but in other
places the mosser can rake on three
hours ebb and three hours rise, Civ.
ing him six hours to tide.
After the moss has been gathered
new crop will grow in few weeks
so the mosser goes repeatedly over the
same ground, and learns the bottom sc
that he can sometimes
work on the night tides when the
water is smooth.
While man can gather S. and even
SO worth of moss on a fair day, there
are many days when he can gather
none at all. Stormy weather means a
setback not only in gathering. but also
in curing the moss, and in any weather
there is also danger from disease like
rust that gets into the moss and rend
ers it unmarketable.
When the mosser comes in with his
loaded dory he leaves it afloat while he
refreshes the inner man, or, in plain
English, eats a square meal. Then he
works at other things if the tide is
biob when he can easily pitch the