PTERIS AQUILINA. 
209 
spleen. Some of the modems have given it a high character 
in the same intentions; but it is rarely used in the present 
practice. The country people, however, still continue to 
retain some of its ancient uses, for they give the powder of 
it to destroy worms, and look upon a bed of the green plant 
as a sovereign cure for the rickets in children." 
The ancients were correct in their estimate of the 
fattening qualities of the Brake, and it has been proved 
in modern days. At Nettlecombe, in Somersetshire, it 
is, or was, customary to gather the young shoots of this 
' Fern, and to simmer them for two hours in water. 
When cold the liquor forms a Strong jelly, and is as 
effectual as potatoes for pig food. 
Professor Sprengel recommends all Ferns, and 
especially the Brake, as a good manure. He says that 
10,000 parts of the fresh-gathered, air-dried herbage 
contain of mineral substances 1,040 parts silica, 433 lime, 
152 magnesia, 1,050 potash, 370 soda, 052 alumina, 150 
oxide of iron, 036 oxide of manganese, 095 sulphuric 
ecid, 060 phosphoric acid, 259 chlorine = 3,696 of 
mineral substances. This Fern, he adds, is rendered 
still more valuable as a manure by its richness in 
nitrogen. He found that 100 lbs. of its dry herbage 
contain 16 lOOths of a pound of nitrogen, and, conse¬ 
quently, 3000 lbs. = 45 lbs. 
If cultivated, it must be grown in a deep, sandy soil, 
and in the shade, or the specimens will not be fine. It 
should be covered over with leaf mould every winter, for 
the roots are very liable to suffer from severe frost. To 
protect them further, and, indeed, for ornament, let the 
