198 WEEDS OF FARM LAND 



have used them for bread and lived for months together 

 almost entirely on this food. 1 



Potentilla reptans (Cinquefoi!). The roots contain tannin 

 and have been employed in the preparation of leather. 2 A 

 quaint old use of the plant is that given by Pliny that " it 

 is used for purging or blessing of the house against naughtie 

 spirits or enchantments ". 



Potentilla tormentilla (Tormentil). The roots provide a 

 most agreeable astringent, aromatic and efficacious. In the 

 western isles of Scotland and in the Orkneys they are 

 used for tanning leather and are considered to be superior to 

 oak bark ; they are boiled in water and the leather is then 

 steeped in the cold liquid. The roots also contain a red 

 colouring principle, soluble in alcohol but insoluble in water. 3 



Poterium sanguisorba (Salad burnet). The herbage has 

 much the flavour of cucumber and was used in the old English 

 drink known as "cool tankard". 3 The French and Italians 4 

 esteem it as a salad. 



Pteris aquilina (Bracken). Wilson gives an excellent 

 summary of the various uses of this plant. In earlier days it 

 was in great request for thatch, it was formerly employed in the 

 manufacture of both glass and soap, and possesses sufficient as- 

 tringency for the purpose of the tanner. In seasons of scarcity 

 it makes useful fodder, and it forms good litter in the cow 

 house and piggery. Bracken often serves as tolerably good 

 manure for potato crops, and is used for the winter protection 

 of esculent roots. It is a common fuel for heating ovens and 

 burning lime and yet, is one of the greatest pests of pastoral 

 farms and renders an enormous aggregate of our country un- 

 available for agricultural purposes. 4 In Scotland it is employed 

 as a vermifuge. 5 It is reported that the young fronds make a 

 good fodder for pigs if they are mixed with potatoes, steamed 

 and pounded, and also that the rhizomes are rich in food 

 material, especially before the end of April, and may be fed to 

 pigs. 6 Experiments made during the war show that a good 



1 Pratt, loc. cit. 2 Hogg and Johnson, loc. cit. 



3 Lindley and Moore, loc. cit. 



4 Wilson, loc. cit. 5 Knapp, loc. cit. 

 6 (a) Zeit-Nahrungs Genussmittel (1916), 32, p. 447. 



(b) "The Uses of Bracken Fronds and Roots," Jour. Bd. Agric. (1917), 

 XXIII, 1252-1255. 



(c) Hansen und Mez (1916), " On the Use of Fern-root (Pteris aquilina) in 

 German Pig-feeding Experiments," Deutsche landwirtsch. Presse., 43, No. 22, 



P- 193. 



(d) Weiner Landw. Ztg. (April 22, 1916), Summ. in Jour. Bd. Agric., 

 XXIII, p. 499. 



