and this is found to answer so completely as a substitute for kelp
(which is an impure carbonate of soda), th a t the great glass
manufactories of Newcastle are supplied with soda thus prepared.
So pernicious, however, are the fumes of the muriatic
acid gas which issue from the soda-works, that vegetation is
destroyed to a considerable distance, and the proprietors have
been compelled to purchase the ground in their immediate
neighbourhood.
The numher of people that find occupation in the manufacture
of kel]) is so great, that a permanent interruption to the
trade would he a serious evil. In the Orkney Islands alone,
the numher of hands, according to Mr Peterkin, who has
obligingly furnislied me with information on this subject,
probably amounts to 20,000 ; for all the ru ra l population is
more or less employed in the business during the kelp season.
Such being the case, it is gratifying to find that chat public-
spirited body, the Highland Society, is exerting itself to procure
exact information about the qualities of kelp as a Manure.
I t has long been known th a t common sea-ware is extremely
valuable for th a t p u rpose; and if the success which
has attended the experiments already made with kelp, be con -
firmed by additional observations, the manufacture may still
be regarded as au important article of domestic commerce.
It appears from the communications made to the Highland
Society, th a t the past success has been such as to induce Lord
Dundas to take a cargo of 50 tons of kelp to Yorkshire for
the sole purpose of agricultural experiments. I t has been
tried as a top-dressing, and singly or in combination with,
other manures on corn, pasture, potatoes, turnips, &c., and iu
most instances with decided good effect. The Committee appointed
to collect the result of the experiments, are inclined
to think that, for raising green crops, it would he better to
compost it 'ivith other substances; that with good earth or
moss and a little vegetable or animal manure, “ a few tons of
kelp would enable a Farmer to extend his farm-dung over at
least four times the usual quantity of land.” A very curious,
circumstance is mentioned by Charles Mackintosh, Esq. who
tried the effects of kelp-manure upon potatoes, at Crosshasket
near Glasgow. A severe frost whicli occurred in September,
injured and blackened every lot of potatoes to which the kelp
had not been applied, while the kelp lots remained in perfect
foliage, even when the respective drills were contiguous. I t
would appear th a t the soil for the time being had acquired a
property equivalent to a certain degree of atmospheric temperature;
or, rather, th a t the nourishment absorbed by the
plants under such circumstances, had enabled them to resist
a degree of cold tliat would otherwise have destroyed them.
Tlic Algoe grow very rapidly, and the produce is far less
exposed to casualties than the crops of the agriculturalist, in
so precarious a climate as th a t of the Hebrides and Orkney
Islands. I am informed that, in some places, the sea-weed
is cut only every third year—while, in others, especially
where there are strong currents, an annual harvest may
be obtained without injury. The rapidity of development
in the larger Algoe is indeed so striking, th a t I cannot resist
the temptation of transcribing some very interesting facts related
hy Mr N e i l l . “ They were observed in the course of
the very arduous undertaking of erecting a stone-heacon on a
low rock called the Carr, situated liear the entrance of the F rith
of F o rth : and when we mention as the observer the distinguished
civil engineer Mr S t e v e n s o n , a man accustomed to
habits of accurate observation, it is perhaps superfluous to add,
th a t particular attention was bestowed, at the request of the
writer of this article, and specimens of the Algoe transmitted
to him. The Carr R ock is about twenty feet broad, and sixty
feet long : it is only uncovered at the lowest ebb of springtides.
I t was completely clothed with the larger Algoe, particularly
Fucus esculentus and F. digitatus. In the course of the
autumn 1813, the workmen had succeeded in clearing out
and levelling with the pick and axe a considerable part of the
foundation of the intended beacon, when, in the beginning of
November, the operations were necessarily abandoned for the.
winter. A t this time the Rock was reduced to a hare state.
1 he coating of sea-weed had a t first been cut away by the