IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LAND 227 



this usurper from our hillsides is a hard task, requiring 

 men, money, time, and patience." It has been stated 

 that in four years' time Bracken can be reduced to 

 such an extent that it is not worth cutting. Beating 

 down the tender young shoots with sticks or canes, 

 thus severely bruising them rather than cutting them 

 clean off, has been recommended in place of cutting. 

 Where Bracken grows in woods a proportion of it is 

 required for game cover, the rest being cut and largely 

 used for bedding stock. In such cases there is little or 

 no diminution in the " fern " year by year, because it 

 is rarely cut in the same place two years in succession. 

 In some districts the cutting of the "fern" is jealously 

 guarded by the keepers, who regulate the cutting to 

 ensure cover. 



(3) Some authorities, especially in Scotland, are of 

 opinion that close grazing with cattle tends to reduce 

 Bracken, the animals not only eating it when young, 

 but trampling it down or lying on it. There is reason 

 to believe that this method is of value, and cases have 

 been quoted which appear to justify the belief. On 

 the other hand, cases to the contrary are also quoted, 

 in which grazing with cattle has had no appreciable 

 effect on the Bracken. 



(4) In cases where it has been possible to practise 

 it, irrigation with spring water is said to have been 

 adopted for clearing ground of Bracken with complete 

 success, although in some cases it has been a failure. 



(5) The growth of Bracken on waste land is perhaps 

 a certain sign of the absence of lime, and where lime is 

 to be obtained at a reasonable cost an application of i 

 to 2 tons per acre to the land after the fern has been cut 

 will very greatly reduce it, if not destroy it altogether. 



(6) Bracken may be eradicated by breaking up the 

 land and cultivating it. 



