174 BRACKEN AS A SOURCE OF POTASH 



tended by the Rev. H. J. Bidder. In that secluded 

 paradise lofty trees cast slanting shadows across glades 

 of immemorial sward, and lowlier treasures lurk on 



every bank and in every sunny recess. 







XLIV 

 During the four years of war with Germany, what 



was practically the sole source of the supply 

 a source of of potash the salt mines of Stassfurt in 



Saxony was closed against British manu- 

 facturers and farmers, whose industry relies materially 

 upon that mineral. It is true that a method of extract- 

 ing potash from felspar was set on foot in this country 

 to meet the necessity, but the process is costly, and 

 the demand exceeded the means of meeting it. Accord- 

 ingly, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland issued a 

 leaflet calling attention to the high percentage of 

 potash contained in bracken. Now it is no exaggera- 

 tion to say that hundreds of thousands of acres in the 

 United Kingdom, especially in northern England and 

 Scotland, have been rendered useless by the spread of 

 this fern. Nay, in some cases the land is rendered 

 worse than useless ; stock fed on land overgrown with 

 bracken often suffer seriously. Ticks swarm in its 

 shelter, and I have known sheep to die with their heads 

 and necks thickly covered with those disgusting para- 

 sites. If, therefore, it were found that the recovery of 

 potash from burnt bracken would indemnify the owner 

 or the occupier of land for the cost of cutting and 

 harvesting it, not only would a valuable fertiliser be 

 obtained, but the land might in time be rid of a ruin- 



