Pter/s. 
37 
An oak-tree small is repeated all 
Complete in branch and root, 
Like the tree whereunto King Charles did flee, 
When press’d by hot pursuit. 
To his son its shade gave but traitor aid 
When, striving to be conceal’d, 
On foot he fled, in fear and dread, 
F rom Sedgemoor’s fatal field ; 
In doubt mean was a peasant seen, 
Wearing a priceless ring — 
He whom the voice of the people’s choice 
So late had hailed their King. 
O Eagle fern ! when I thee discern, 
When thy withered leaf I meet, 
In places the careless foot might spurn, 
The crowded mart or street, 
Thou takest me back to thy birth-place fair, 
Where thou wavest in thy pride, 
And the form of the hare and the deer’s close lair 
Doth ’mid thy stems abide.” 
In reclaiming forest land, it is often necessary to destroy Bracken, and this may be effica- 
ciously done by repeated mowings. Tusser (“Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie ”), 
under “August’s Husbandrie,'” writes: — 
“ Get downe with thy brakes, er an showers doo come, 
That cattle the better may pasture have some. 
In June and in August, as well doth appeere, 
Is best to mowe brakes, of all times in the yeerc.” 
When the early settlers established themselves in New Zealand, cultivation was much 
hindered by the great abundance of Ptcris esculenta, which had been cherished by the natives 
for centuries as an article of food ; it w r as found, however, that by sending cattle to browse 
upon the young leaves, the plants were trodden down and quickly perished, being succeeded 
by rich, wholesome grass. If mown down two or three times in the course of a summer, 
while the fronds are still young, the fern will soon be eradicated. If, on the other hand, 
it is desired to establish the Bracken in any locality, the rhizome should be taken up in 
lengths of two feet, or thereabouts, care being taken not to injure the roots, as the fibres are 
brittle and readily break off ; the beginning of October is a good time for performing the 
operation. 
Although so common a plant, Pteris aquiliim has not an extensive popular nomenclature. 
It is most generally known as Brake or Bracken — the latter name varying to Breckon or 
Braikin — although, as we have already seen, this is sometimes used for ferns in general. 
Dr. Prior derives the word Brakes from the German word brciclie or brach-fcld, uncultivated 
land, a term which was used “to replace the medkeval Latin fractitius or ruptitius ager, land 
that is breakable, or again open to tillage after a term of years, land that is not pre- 
served as forest. The fern so called is named from its place of growth in the same way as 
whin, heath, bent, and brier.” Bracken he considers a word introduced from Scandinavia, and 
identical with the Swedish brdken, which Rietz derives from brcicka (break). It is called the 
Eagle Brake, which was an Anglo-Saxon form of the name ; and Mr. Cockayne quotes “ wylde 
brake” as occurring in a MS. of the I2th century. This may be the plant intended in the 
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