SEAWEEDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1417, 18 January 1879, Page 5

SEAWEEDS.

Seaweeds have been used as manure for centuries by the fanners on the coasts of Scotland, England, and Ireland, in quantities ranging from ten to over twenty tons per acre. The *amis on the Lothian costs are rented at from 203 to 40s more per acre when they have a right-of-way to the sea where the weed is cast ashore ; and in the Western Isles seaweed is the manure upon which the hardy farmers rely to maintain the productiveness of their land. At Oban, on. the western coast of Scotland, one cart -ot seaweed is estimated to be equal in value to two of farmyard dung for the potato crop ; while on the csast of Fife it is found to have a very beneficial effect on turnips, and also on the following clover crop. "In Ireland," says Cameron, "seawe'da are a favourite manure for potatoes." The value of seaweeds for manuring purposes arises, in the first phce, from the rapidity with which they decompose whan ploughed into the soil, and in the second, from their richness in the main constituents of plan*, food. In open soil they decompose with sufficient rapidity to exercise their full effect in one year j but in ordinary soils they decompose less rapidly, and hence are more lasting. The mode of applying seaweed most generally followed consists in spreading them over the land, and ploughing them in when decomposition has commenced. la their natural state, mixed seaweeds contain about 80 per cent of water, 0 5 of nitrogen, and 10 of ash rich in potash and soda salts.