144 FILICES 
many of the open mountainous parts of Wales, where it grows abundantly, 
the Brake is cut down in summer, and, “after being well dried, is burned 
by the cottagers in large heaps for the sake of the alkali contained in the 
ashes. When sufficiently burned, enough water is sprinkled on them to 
make them adhere together; they are then rolled into round balls, about two 
inches or two inches and a half in diameter. These balls are thoroughly 
dried, and carried about the neighbourhood for sale in the markets, and they - 
are also frequently kept by shopkeepers to supply their customers.” They 
serve the purpose of economising the use of soap. They are, before being 
used, thrown into the fire, and when thoroughly heated are placed in water, 
which thus becomes a strong ley. The ancients are supposed to have used 
both the fronds and stems of the Brake in diet drinks, and medicines for 
many disorders have, at various times, been made in our country from this 
fern. It is very astringent, and has been recommended for dressing and 
preparing kid and chamois leather ; while both in this and other lands the 
ashes, from the alkali which they contain, were found serviceable in the 
manufacture of soap and glass, until discoveries in chemistry suggested the 
use of other materials for the purpose. This very astringency seems to 
render the Brake unsuitable for the food of man, though some writers think 
that nutriment would be afforded by its large rhizome. ‘This is often ground 
to powder, and mixed with the flour used in making the bread eaten in some 
parts of Normandy ; but, perhaps, like the admixture of pine bark with the 
flour, used in some countries in the north of Europe, it adds rather to the 
quantity than to the nutritious quality of the bread. The rootstock of this 
Brake, however, as we are informed by Humboldt, serves the inhabitants of 
Palma and Gomera, in the Canary Islands, for food. They grind it, he says, 
to powder, and mix it with a small quantity of barley-meal. This composi- 
tion is termed gofio ; and the author adds, that the use of so homely a diet 
is a proof of the extreme poverty of the people of these islands. This 
naturalist saw both the Brake and our common northern hard fern growing 
in the Canaries in great luxuriance, though never attaining either the size or 
stateliness of the arborescent ferns of Equinoctial America and New Zealand. 
Our common Brake is one of the most frequent ferns in many parts of 
the United States of America. Sir Charles Lyell saw it in abundance on 
the mountains of New Hampshire, where the maples, with their crimson 
foliage, and the boughs of the spruce fir, and the rich flowers of the kalmia, 
waved in their glory above the moist ground, which was covered with the 
green bracken ; and it is in that land, as in ours, used for packing fruit. 
The author of these pages has often seen this fern employed for making a 
bright fire on the hearth, and has helped, during childhood, to gather it from 
the hedges of the cherry orchards of Kent, that the cherry-pickers might 
bind it over their baskets of fruit, its large fronds keeping the glossy cherries 
cool and fresh for the London markets. As a packing material for apples it 
is excellent, for it preserves their freshness better than any other substance, 
without imparting either the slightest colour or flavour. Both this plant 
and the male fern have been used in brewing. Professor Burnett observes. 
that from the analysis of the latter, made by Morin, it is probable that they 
would form one of the best substitutes for hops, as they contain both gallic 
