, 1906-05-31
MONEY FROM H SEA
WEED BRINGS PROSPERITY TO
DISTRICTS OF NORWAY.
Steady Demand for Natural Product
Has Revolutionized Conditions in
Provinces Along the Coast of the
Northern Kingdom.

Along the shores of Joderen, on the
southwest oas of Norway, the sea-
weed grows in veritable forests; not
the common grass variety, but actual
trees from five to six feet In height,
with stems like ropes and leaves as
tough as leather. 1t begins to sprout
in March and April, and gradually
covers the ocean bed with a dense, i'm
renetrable brush.
In the fall the stems become tender.
the roots release their s~uctionlike grip
on the rocky bottom, and the autumn
winds wash it ashore in such great
quantities that the weed looks like a
huge brown wall along the entire
coast.
The fall crop is of comparatively
small value. The only use that can
be made of it is for fertilizing pur-
poses, because 1t is only in the spring
that it can be successfully burned,
and at this time there is such a de-
mand for it that every stalk and leaf
is gathered as If it were pure coin. .
The weed burning season is the
busiest of the year and every member
of the household is drafted to assist
in gathering. drying and burning. At
the close of each clear day the whole
coast seems to be afame from the
thousands of bonfires that are kept
burning far into the night. This is
n of the many natural resources
hat is Unexpectedly developed in Nor
way, and no one ever dreamed twenty
years ago that this seemingly worth
less weed would in a few years, as a
source of income, surpass the fisher
les, which have been the mainstay of
the people for ages, or rival that of
agriculture in one of the leading agri-
cultural districts in Norway. Yet such
is the case to-day, and those who are
fortunate enough to own land abut-
ting the seashore can reap the most
profitable crop of the year. Owners of
farms located where the weed seems
to have a prediction to drift car
burn as much as three thousand kilos
a year.
During this time the carrying capac-
ity of the ~Stavanger and Joderen rail
way is taxed to the utmost, as many
tram loads a day, collected at differ
ent stations, are shipped to ~Stavanger,
whence from two to three shiploads a
week are sent to Great Britain.
The subsequent uses and treatment
of the ashes are yelled in scientific
mystery, and the good people of Jo-
deren are not concerned about 1t as
long as there is an increasing demand
and the English agents at ~Stavanger
are willing to pay good prices for
their wares. These ashes contain
many valuable chemical properties,
emong which iodine is the most i'm
portant.
This relatively large supply of
money has wrought great changes in
the economic conditions of the dis
trict. Old debts have beer paid off,
small farms that We're isolated and
surrounded by unproductive land have
lad their boundaries extended by the
draining of marshes and clearing of
rocky wastes, and this very land
which has been considered worthless
and unfit for cultivation, has by this
evolution become productive.
Not more than twenty years ago
there was not n moving machine in
the entire district, while now there
are mowers, hayrakes, harrows and
other modern machinery on nearly
every farm.