USES OF SEAWEED

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1933, Page 14

USES OF SEAWEED

VALUE AS FERTILISER. Interesting facts concerning the variety of uses to which seaweed is put in many parts of the world, and an elucidation of the different types of the plant, were dealt with by Miss L. M. Cranwell in •an address at Auckland on Sunday. “Seaweeds have been used by primitive peoples for thousands of years as a food, medicine ana also as a fertiliser for the earth,” said Miss Cranwell. In Scotland a large industry in the production of iodine from seaweed had existed for about 35 years. For every 24 tons of kelp that was burned, eight pounds of iodine were produced, but the death-

blow of the industry was .struck by the opening of the Chilean saltpetre fields, because it took only one ton of saltpetre to yield 3lib. of iodine. Japan, however, produced enough iodine from seaweed to satisfy its own needs. Seaweed was known to collect in crevices on bare ground in the Scandinavian peninsula, and barley seeds were sown on the plant, which acted as a fertiliser when it started to rot. So important was the regard for kelp in Norway and Sweden that it was included in the toast “To kelp and cattle.” Ground in low-lying areas was held together and strengthened by seaweed and land by the seashore was gradually enlarged by the process of seaweed forming in cracks and increasing the volume of earth. In the south of New Zealand there was quite an industry in making kelp

bags in which to pack mutton-bird carcases. The bags were very strong and birds were sent long distances packed in this manner. The Maoris living on the coast flavoured drinks and food with seaweed extract, and it was found that they did not suffer from goitre, in direct contrast to those living inland. Red seaweed, common in European countries, was used a great deal for food by cooking and adding other ingredients. >. . “The beauty of the colour of seaweed is perhaps not fully recognised," said Miss Cranwell. The plant existed in blue-green, green, brown and red, and was to b? found on rocks or in sand or mud. Seaweed was measured among the longest of plants and a type known as the macrocystis. feund in the Sargasso Sea, grew to a length of about 300 ft.