Ustf" THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. XV. No. 7. 



OCTOBER, 1908. 



ON THE USE OF BRACKEN AS LITTER. 

 Edward J. Russell, D.Sc. (Lond.). 



4< Goldsmith " Chemist for Soil Investigation^ Rothamsted Experimental Station. 



In many districts, especially where there are large stretches 

 of sandy heaths, quantities of bracken are obtainable and are 

 in common use for litter. Its value for this purpose appears 

 to be considerable, and farmers who use it speak well of it. A 

 century ago Arthur Young praised it highly, advising farmers in 

 September to " cut fern, called in some places brakes and 

 brakens. This is most profitable work, and should never be 

 neglected. Carry it into the farmyard and build large stacks 

 of it. . . . You will be able to raise immense quantities 

 of dung and it is well known that no vegetable yields such a 

 quantity of salts as fern, from which we are to conclude that 

 it is well adapted to the making manure. The good farmer, 

 in this work of bringing fern, should not confine himself to his 

 own wastes, but purchase it of his neighbours." Whilst no 

 careful comparison with straw seems to have been made, there 

 is a fairly general opinion that bracken is nearly as useful as 

 straw so far as the animals are concerned, although a com- 

 petent observer has noted that the animals' coats are not so 

 good, indicating that they do not do quite so well on bracken 

 as on straw. Litter, however, fulfils another important function 

 besides ministering to the comfort of the animals ; it has a 

 great effect on the composition, and particularly on the value, 

 of the dung. This function only is dealt with in the present 

 paper. 



The simplest way of ascertaining the value of bracken as 

 (4233) 2 H 



