one frond producing more than a million) as not to be visible to the
naked eye. Hence, on the doctrine of signatures, the plant--like the
ring of Gyges, found in a brazen horse--has been thought to confer
invisibility. Thus Shakespeare says, _Henry IV_., Act II., Scene 1,
"We have the receipt of Fern seed; we walk invisible."

Bracken or Brakes, which grows more freely than any other of the
Fern tribe throughout England, is the _Filix foemina_, or common
Female Fern. The fronds of this are branched, whilst the male plant
having only one main rib, is more powerful as an astringent, and
antiseptic; "the powder thereof freely beaten healeth the galled
necks of oxen and other cattell." Bracken is also named botanically,
_Pteris aquilina_, because the figure which appears in its succulent
stem when cut obliquely across at the base, has been thought to
resemble a spread eagle; and, therefore, Linnaeus termed the Fern
_Aquilina_. Some call it, for the same reason, "King Charles in the
oak tree"; and in Scotland the symbol is said to be an impression of
the Devil's foot. [185] Again, witches are reputed to detest this Fern,
since it bears on its cut root the Greek letter X, which is the initial
of _Christos_.

In Ireland it is called the Fern of God, because of the belief that if
the stem be cut into three sections, on the first of these will be seen
the letter G; on the second O; and on the third D.

An old popular proverb says about this Bracken:--

"When the Fern is as high as a spoon
You may sleep an hour at noon,
When the Fern is as high as a ladle
You may sleep as long as you're able,
When the Fern is looking red
Milk is good with faire brown bread."

The Bracken grows almost exclusively on waste places and
uncultivated ground; or, as Horace testified in Roman days,
_Neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris_. It contains much potash;
and its ashes were formerly employed in the manufacture of soap.
The young tops of the plant are boiled in Hampshire for hogs' food,
and the peculiar flavour of Hampshire bacon has been attributed to
this custom. The root affords much starch, and is used medicinally.
"For thigh aches" [sciatica], says an old writer, "smoke the legs
thoroughly with Fern braken."

During the Seventeenth Century it was customary to set growing
Brakes on fire with the belief that this would produce rain. A like
custom of "firing the Bracken" still prevails to-day on the
Devo