94. 



A FERK EOOK TOR EYERTBODT. 



down witli ropes made either of birch bark or heath. In 



some parts of ]N'ormandy we read that the poor have been 

 reduced to the miserable necessity of mixing the roots 

 with their bread ; and in Siberia and some other Northern 

 countries the inhabitants brew them in their ale, mixing 

 one-third of the root to two-thirds of malt. The ancients 

 used the root and whole plant in decoctions and diet 

 drinks in chronic disorders of all kinds. The country 

 people still continue to retain some of its ancient uses, 

 for they give the powder of it to destroy worms, and look 

 upon a bed of the green plant as a sovereign cure for the 

 rickets in children." 



We have already alluded to the use of this fern in pack- 

 ing fruit, to which we may add that Johnston remarks 

 in his "Flora" of its applicability for packing apples for 

 winter keeping. Apples preserved in straw, sawdust, 

 &c., uniformly contract a taint or flavour from the straw, 

 the paper, or the wood ; but a layer of Bracken and a 

 layer of apples may be four or five times alternated, with- 

 out the least risk of taint for three months. The boxes so 

 packed and covered with a lid were placed on a dry bank 

 close by a wall, and covered up with straw and earth. 

 The apples kept plump and quite untainted. In Ireland, 

 it is said that the fronds of the Lady Fern are employed 

 for a similar purpose. 



In an early part of this volume we have alluded to the 

 parasites which develop themselves upon the Bracken, 

 the most interesting of which is perhaps that which 

 occurs in little black patches on the under side of the 

 leaflets, and which is mentioned again here to caution the 

 inexperienced against falling into the error of regarding 

 them as a form of the fructification of the fern. 



MAIDENHAIB. 



Lobes at the edge of the leaflets bent back over the spore-cases. 



It is many years ago that our curiosity was excited 

 amongst a rural population in the east of England to hear 

 the Maidenhair constantly alluded to as a beautiful plant 



