34 
The only variety (unless the crisped form he considered 
one) I have ever seen of this fern is a simple fork at the 
end of some of the pinnae. It varies very much in size and 
I have found it from one foot to thirteen feet high. 
USES. 
This fern is perhaps more used for various pui’poses than 
any other. In different countries the various parts of it 
are used for thatching, fuel, bread, litter for cattle, mixed 
with malt to make beer, food for pigs, manure (it is said 
to produce the best potatoes), fodder, in the manufacture of 
soap and glass on account of the alkali it contains; the 
ashes are mixed with enough water and made into balls, 
allowed to dry, and when required for use are burnt to a 
red heat and thrown into water, which in an hour becomes 
a strong ley ; it is used too for tanning. It was called by 
G-erard and the old authors the Female Fern, and was used 
medicinally in numerous ways, one of which was as a ver- 
mifuge, and its roots are no doubt now collected with those 
of the male fern for the same purpose. Gerard goes on to 
say that “the root hereof is reported to be good for them 
that have ill spleenes ; and being stamped with swine’s 
grease and appKed it is a remedie against the pricking of 
the reed ; for proof hereof, Dioscorides saith the feme dieth 
if the reed be planted about it ; and contrariwise, that the 
reed dieth if it be compassed with feme ; which is vain to 
think that it hapneth by any antipathic or naturall hatred. 
