194 XIII PTEUIS. 
Tliis, as already remarked, is the most common of our 
indigenous ferns, and is found abundantly on every de- 
scription of soil, except chalk, which it appears to shun, 
as it does the habitation of man, taking refuge (as New- 
man observes) in wastes and wildernesses. It is exten- 
sively distributed throughout Europe, and is found in Asia, 
Africa, and North America. When growing in exposed 
situations, it assumes a rigid and uncouth aspect ; but when 
in its most luxuriant state, it is a plant of surpassing 
beauty. Certainly I have nowhere seen, among our native 
species, such a scenic effect as was produced by this species, 
growing eight or ten feet in height, in a hedge-row bank, 
skirting a damp shady lane, its expansive fronds grace- 
fully arching out from among the brushwood which con- 
cealed and supported their base. For any such damp 
half-shady positions in artificial wilderness scenery, this 
species, common though it be, deserves to be recom- 
mended. 
The Bracken is applied to various uses. The under- 
ground succulent stems abound in starch, and, as stated 
by Lightfoot, have been used in different countries as an 
ingredient in making a miserable kind of bread They 
have also been employed in brewing ale, being used in 
the proportion of one-third to two-thirds malt. Mr. 
Forsyth obtained a substance like coarse brown flour, by 
grating the clean-washed stems, washing the pulp, and 
straining it through a fine wire sieve ; and by first scraping 
off the brown outer coating, white fecula was obtained, 
which, when boiled, was without any disagreeable taste. 
The fecula, he says, may be easily converted into malt, 
and, mixed with a very small quantity of real malt, will 
produce good beer. Both the under-ground stems in win- 
ter, and the tender shoots in spring, are, when boiled, a 
nutritious food for pigs, but not proper for young ones. 
The young succulent fronds also make an excellent green 
manure, if cut and dug or ploughed in immediately. The 
dried fronds make a very durable thatch, for which pur- 
