94 FERNS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



pale brown colour, contrasting with the green leaves of 

 Polypody on the trunk of the tree, or with clumps 

 of Hart's-tongue, among whose bright green fronds we 

 may see the occasional tint of brown which tells of the 

 touch of winter. The taU branches of the Brake, too, 

 bordering the park, form an excellent covert for game, 

 and the deer are fond of Ijdng among them : — 



" The wild buck bells from ferny brake. '' 



The fronds, though often not more than a foot high, 

 attain great luxuriance in some places, and become taller 

 than any other of our native ferns. They are sometimes 

 ten or twelve feet in height, and their texture is crisp 

 and brittle. In the north of England, and in various 

 parts of Scotland, this fern is used for many domestic 

 and economical purposes. In Scotland, country women 

 may often be seen coming away from the heath laden 

 with its young branches, which serve as food for swine ; 

 and the peasant cuts it down in large quantities, and 

 placing it in heaps- to dry in the sun, and to be wetted 

 by the rains, uses it when thus prepared for manure on 

 his land ; or he cuts up some of the fresh fronds and 

 mingles them vidth hay as food for his horses. A writer 

 in the "Magazine of Natural History" says, that in 

 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 



