An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 10, October 1914-September 1915

AN DEO-GREINE.
179
debnaich am Ereasdal gu’m bi an aireamh
lionmhor) na’s deidheil’ oirre na bha iad riamh,
do bhrigh gu ’n d’ fhuair iad comh-fhurtachd
innte, ’nuair a bha iad ri uchd a’ chunnairt.
SCOTTISH KELP INDUSTRY.
The development of the kelp industry is being
discussed by those in authority throughout the
Highlands. It was reported at Inverness some
time ago that the Scottish Agricultural Organis¬
ation Society had received funds from the Board
of Agriculture which would enable them to
undertake organising work. Several people had
already made a start. A London firm is pre¬
pared to give ninepence per lb. for dried tangle
rod which is used in connexion with surgical
work. An important communication was re¬
ceived from Sir J. Patten Macdougall, relative
to the organisation work of the Society in
negotiating the sale of tangle in its different
forms. Professor Hendrick, Aberdeen, had been
workingon the kelp question since last November,
and his investigations led him to believe that
seaweed secured in winter was equal in quality
to that secured in summer. Analysis showed
no difference. Prof. Hendrick is going into
the matter both from a scientific and a com¬
mercial point of view, and, as has been said, he
expects that he will be able to double the
quantity of iodine and potash got from the
seaweed.
“ It would be difficult at this stage to estimate
the extent to which the supply of potash can be
increased by the making of kelp; but there
would appear to be little doubt that a useful
addition to home supplies would be secured, if
the available seaweed in the various Highland
districts were fully utilised. Kelp of fairly
good quality contains about 18 per cent, of
potash. Chemical companies are prepared to
buy much larger quantities than usual, provided
the ash is of good quality. The prices before
the war ranged from £4 10s. to £5 per ton. It
is only reasonable to suppose that, during the
continuance of the war, prices will be much
higher. Kelp-making might become a profit¬
able and subsidiary source of income to crofters
in several districts of the north and west of
Scotland, where the industry has not hitherto
been taken up.”—Report of the Board of Agri¬
culture.
THE WORLD’S POTASH.
Old and New Sources of Supply.
The potash hitherto used in this country has
been chiefly derived from the enormous deposits
of potash salts which occur near Stassfurt, in
the north of Germany. These deposits have
been systematically and economically worked
and the trade so well organized that German
potash, on account of itg cheapness, became the
almost exclusive source of the potash required
throughout the world. The German source
being no longer available, it has become neces¬
sary to take stock of other sources of supply,
and these are considered in “The World’s Supply
of Potash,” a pamphlet just issued by the Im¬
perial Institute.
In this pamphlet, which forms, in fact, a
miniature encyclopfedia of its subject, both the
old and new sources of potash are described so
far as details are available. Certain of these
will probably only be utilised so long as the
price of potash continues high, but others pro¬
mise to become active competitors with the
Stassfurt deposits, even when prices again fall
to their usual level.
The chief use of potash, usually in the form
of the chloride or sulphate, is as an artificial
manure, for which purpose over 90 per cent, of
the world’s output is employed. But potash is
also essential for nutherous chemical industries
carried on in this country, and for the manu¬
facture of the finest kinds of glass, and the
present scarcity is having considerable effects
on these industries. The increased production
of potash in the United Kingdom from kelp
and other vegetable sources referred to in this
pamphlet is now under serious consideration.
The pamphlet gives interesting information
on the method of making kelp. In the early
days of the industry when sodium carbonate
was required, the weeds used were those which
are exposed on the shore at low tide. The kelp
made from such plants was poor in iodine. The
weeds now employed are chiefly those which are
always submerged by the tide, and so the sea¬
weed gatherers have to depend upon the material
cast up after storms. The industry is carried
on chiefly in Hist and Orkney, and to a smaller
extent in Tiree, Barra, Islay, and Colonsay. In
South Uist and Benbecula the season lasts from
the beginning of May to the end of September.
It is customary to cart the weed from the beach
to the machairs of the farms, and there spread
it out to dry. It is essential that ft should be
gathered and dried as soon as possible, as ex¬
posure to the rain entails a considerable loss of
its most valuable constituents.
In addition to the gathering of the deep-water
forms, the collection and burning of those which
grow between the tide-marks is carried on from
November to March.
The dried weed is usually burnt in an open,
shallow kiln having brick or stonework sides,
but closed kilns are sometimes also employed.