38 FERNS. 



Fern is burned and its ashes used in the manufacture of 

 glass, and in some places it is burned for fuel. There are 

 districts where it is greatly in vogue as the litter of cattle. 

 In a work on " The Channel Islands," by Professors Ans- 

 ted and Latham, there is an account of another mode of us- 

 incr Ferns : — " Each cottage and old farmhouse has, in the 

 kitchen or principal sitting-room, a wooden frame spread 

 with dried Fern, called the ' lit de fouaille/ or Fern-bed, 

 on which the inhabitants repose in the evening. This 

 custom is, no doubt, French, and very old. It is con- 

 nected with all the habits and traditions of the people, 

 and comes into use on such occasions as the Vraic harvest, 

 and on all festivals. The older people more especially 

 resort to it ; and, though rough, it is by no means an un- 

 sightly piece of furniture. It corresponds with the 

 chimney-corner in an old English farmhouse where wood 

 is still burnt, and where pit-coal is an unheard-of-novelty." 

 When the stalk is cut across, there is a marking not un- 

 like a tiny picture of an Oak tree. Cut slanting the 

 same pith-mark resembles a spread eagle. Its specific 

 name, aquilina, is given on account of this fanciful re- 

 semblance. It was believed in old times that those 



" Who gathered Fern-seed walked invisible," 



and people used to go out on St. JohnVeve to collect it 

 with great ceremony, as Leyden professes his intention of 

 doing : 



" But on St. John's mysterious night, 

 Sacred to many a wizard spell, 

 The time when first to human sight 

 Confest the mystic fern- seed fell ; 



