61 
compared to the impression of the De’il’s foot.” Common 
as this Fern is, and varying as it does from most others 
in not confining itself to hedge-banks, or to the retreat 
of damp shady woods, it is possessed of some great and 
important virtues, and next to the Male Fern, is the most 
valuable of all. A tolerably pure alkali may be obtained 
from this plant. In many parts of England, the ashes 
mixed with water are formed into balls, which are afterwards 
heated in the fire, and used to make lye for scouring linen. 
Lightfoot says, “ It is an excellent manure for potatoes, and 
if buried beneath their roots, never fails to produce a good 
crop.” Where coal is scarce, it is used for heating ovens 
and for burning limestone, for it yields a very intense heat. It 
is so astringent, that it is sold in many places abroad for 
dressing chamois and leather. It is an excellent litter for 
horses and cows, and in Invernesshire, the poorer classes 
thatch the tops of their houses with the leaves, which form a 
durable thatch. Newman observes, “ It would appear that 
formerly it was in use in England for the same purpose, for 
by a statute for regulating the price of labour in England, 
dated 1349, being the twenty-third year of Edward III, we 
find it enacted that every tyler or coverer with straw or 
fern shall receive 3d. per day, and their servants or knaves 
2d., and their boys l^d. per day.” It is also said that a 
decoction of the ashes of this and some other Ferns stimu-, 
lates the growth of hair, and hence they have been called 
capillary plants. This plant is not unknown to the Scottish 
poet, 
“ Far dearer to me yon lone glen o’green Brechan, 
Wi^ the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom.” 
As in some places the plant attains a considerable height, 
it offers a bracken curtain to the deer for his evening couch, 
and has concealed many an armed Highlander in days of old. 
Sir Walter Scott, in his Lady of the Lake,” describes 
Eoderic Dhu’s men, as springing from the Bracken at the 
sound of the whistle of their chieftain. 
“ On right, on left, above, below, 
Sprang up at once the lurking foe, 
From shingles grey their lances start, 
The bracken bush sends forth the dart.” 
Scott’s Lady of the Lalce^ Canto V. 
