Seaweed burning in Norway produces an annual income of £30,000. Along the shores of Joderen, on the southwest coast of Norway, the seaweed grows in veritable forests. This is not the common grass variety, but actual trees from 5 ft. to 6 ft. in height, with stems like ropes and leaves as tough as leather. It begins to sprout in March and April, and gradually covers the ocean bed with a dense impenetrable brush.

Seaweed In Norway 232

Fig. 3.

a lathe is purchased. It fits into the spindle of the headstock as an ordinary center, and is meant to carry boring bits by inserting them in the hole and fastening by set screw B. In this case a cutter is inserted, as C, while E is a false table resting on lathe bed, built up to suitable height, F being a strip of wood serving as a guide for the piece L, which is being molded.

It will be understood that the molding surface is limited to one-half of the cutter. It is desirable, however, to grind both halves alike in order that both may cut. It makes better work and is easier and steadier to operate. The cutters can be made out of old files ground to shape on the emery wheel and touched up by filing where needed. The temper must be drawn first in order to file, and they can be retem-perd if desired for hardwood cuting. In order to form the full bead on the edge of piece L it has to be reversed-that is to say, one-half cut from each side running it steadily against the guide F. By raising or lowering the table several beads may be formed with the same cutter, as indicated at H in the drawing, C showing the cuter blank.

Fluting may also be done with a half round cutter, as at J. An ogee mold is shown at K suitable for table tops, giving a pleasing finish.

The head of set screw, like the one shown at B, projecting as it does is a dangerous affair and the cause of many injured fingers and hands, hence the ounce of protection shown at G in the form of the ring D. It is simply a hardwood ring fitted properly over the center chuck, thick enough to come flush with the bolt head and having an opening cut for the same large enough to admit of turning it around with a socket wrench.

In the fall the stems become tender, the roots release their suction-like grip on the rocky bottom, and the autumn winds wash it ashore in such great quantities that it looks like a huge brown wall along the entire coast. The fall crop is of comparative small value. The only use that can be made of it is for fertilising purposes, because it is only in the spring that it can be successfully burned, and at this time there is such a demand for it that every stalk and leaf is gathered. 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 aflame from thousands of bonfires that are kept burning far into the night. Owners of farms located where the weed seems to have a predilection to drift produce as much as 3000 lb. of ashes a year, which sells for from $1.75 to $3.75 a pound.