60 
the plant rises up at intervals, as in the case of the Poly- 
pody. In the downs it is comparatively a stunted plant, 
but in the wet woods and shady places, it not unfrequently 
reaches the height of nine or ten feet, a very graceful and 
elegant object. What with its wide-spread branches, and 
light green colour, and feathery foliage, it surely deserves a 
place among the beautiful works of nature. The Bracken 
is very susceptible of cold. In autumn, a severe frost soon 
turns it to a deep brown colour, and makes it wither. In the 
spring, a whole crop is cut down, like the potatoes, by the 
sharp and piercing north easterly wind. 
Brake is to be found in every country in Europe, and it 
is a question whether the species of Pteris found in Eussia, 
Africa, 'New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands, is not 
identically the same. Great indeed is the variation of form. 
But this may be ascribed to the difference of soil, clime, and 
position. Hooker says that the edible Fern root* of Hew 
Zealand is a mere variety of our Common Brake. That 
used to be the favourite food of the Hew Zealanders, and was 
celebrated in song. The young women in laying before 
travellers baskets of cooked Fern-root, cha^nted, “ What 
shall be our food ? Shall shell-fish and Fern-root ? That is 
the root of the earth : that is the food to satisfy a man.” 
Dr. Clarke shows that the root, if properly prepared, would 
be preferable to spinach, and have a more beneficial effect 
on the digestive organs. It is however found, that though 
life may be preserved, men would not gain much animal 
strength. Pigs are fed upon the roots boiled down to a 
mucilaginous mass. The root, when cut obliquely, presents 
a kind of representation of the imperial 
eagle, and hence the name of Pteris 
Aquilina^ or Eagfle Brake. Young per- 
sons, in cutting the same roots, observe 
a fanciful letter of the alphabet, which 
they take for the initial of their lady-fair. 
Hay, there is a great similitude to an oak 
tree, as appears from the woodcut annex- 
ed, made from a drawing of a section of 
the brake. Dr. Johnson, in his “ Terra 
Landisfarnensis” says, “ The mark is also 
* Pteris esculenta. 
