380 BOOT CROPS. 



Professor O'Shaughnessy has given the best analysis of this 

 moss, which he described under the name of Fucus amylaceus ; 

 100 grains weight yielded the following proportions : 



Vegetable jelly 



True starch . 



Ligneous fibre 



Sulphate and muriate of soda 



Gum .... 



Sulphate and phosphate of lime 



54-50 



15-00 



18-00 



6-50 



4-00 



1-00 



Total . . . .99-00 



With a trace of wax and iron. 



I observe among the imports into New Orleans, 911 bushels of 

 Spanish moss in 1849, and 1,394 bushels in 1848. I do not know 

 precisely its use, or from whence derived, but I believe it is 

 chiefly used for stuffing cushions, mattresses, &c. 



FERN. The rhizome of Pteris esculenta is used as food in 

 Australia, and that of Marattia alata in the Sandwich Islands. The 

 trunks of the Alsopkila, or tree fern, of the western side of Van 

 Diemen's Land, and of the common tree fern, Cibotium Billardieri 

 (the Dicksonia antarctica, of Labillardiere) , contain the edible pith 

 or bread-fruit eaten by the natives. Many other species of ferns 

 are esculent. Typha bread is prepared in Scinde from the pollen 

 of the flowers of the TypJia elephantina, and in New Zealand from 

 another species of bulrush (Typha utilis). 



" It must not be supposed, as some have believed, that the fern 

 root, wherever it grows, is fit for food. On the contrary, it is only 

 that found in rich loose soils which contains fecula in sufficient 

 quantity for this purpose : in poorer ground the root contains pro- 

 portionally more fibre. We were now encamped on an alluvial 

 flat in the valley of the river, thirty or forty feet below the general 

 level of the plain ; and I observed that, even in this favourable 

 spot, a great deal of discrimination was used in selecting the best 

 roots, which was discoverable by their being crisp enough to break 

 easily when bent : those which would not stand this test being 

 thrown aside. Here a quantity sufficient for several days was 

 procured, and was packed in baskets, to last till another spot 

 equally favourable could be reached. 



" The process of cooking fern root is very simple; for it is merely 

 roasted on the fire, and afterwards bruised by means of a flat 

 stone similar to a cobbler's lap-stone, and a wooden pestle. The 

 long fibres which run like wires through the root are then easily 

 drawn out ; and the remainder is pounded till it acquires the con- 

 sistence of tough dough, in which state it is eaten, its taste being 

 very like that of cassava bread. Sometimes it is sweetened with 

 the juice of the ' tutu.' 



"The natives consider that there is no better food than this fora 

 traveller, as it both appeases the cravings of hunger for a longer 

 period than their other ordinary food, and renders the body less 

 sensible to the fatigue of a long march. It is in this respect to 



