38 
THE FERN WORLD 
being especially recommended as favouring the growth of 
potatoes ; and for the reason, that they contain a very large 
proportion of nitrogen. They are also sold to glass and 
soap-makers ; and in some parts of the western isles of 
Scotland, their collection and sale form the staple of a regular 
industry. Mixed with water, and dried in the sun, they 
make balls which are used bv the inhabitants of some parts 
of North Britain as soap for the washing of their clothes. 
Being, like the Male Fern, a powerful astringent, the Bracken 
is useful in the manufacture of leather. Besides furnishing 
when dried, a light fuel to the rural population, in some 
districts it is used for the thatching of houses. If the 
young shoots are gathered and simmered in water over 
a tire for two or three hours, the liquid makes when 
cold, a kind of jelly which is recommended as fattening 
food for pigs. The fattening quality of this Fern no doubt 
arises from the fact that it, like the Male Fern, contains an 
abundance of starch. Like the Male Fern, also, it has been 
used as a vermifuge. But of all the uses to which the Brake 
is put, none is so familiar as its employment for the packing 
of fruit ; and there is a well-founded belief, that its utility in 
this way is due to its power of resisting mildew, and keeping- 
fresh the articles packed in it. This belief may account for 
the circumstance that it has been used in the Isle of Man 
fur the packing of freshly caught fish. It is believed, too, 
to possess great virtues as a covering for potatoes, when the 
latter are buried in the ground ; and it has been noticed, in 
many cases, that it keeps these tubers very much better 
than straw, or any other article used for covering them. 
But, perhaps, the most pleasant association of the Bracken 
in the public mind is with fragrantly-scented strawberries 
in the early summer season. Who is not familiar with its 
fronds in this way ? 
The rootstock of the Eoyal Fern ( Osmunda regalia) was 
