50 Aged Yew Tree near Dover. 



yew : it h common, also, to the oak, and to many, perhaps 

 most, other trees. And hence, in calculating the girth which 

 a tree would have had in its sound and vigorous state*, 

 merely from the data afforded by a remaining portion of its 

 shell, the measure is apt to he somewhat overrated. If, for 

 bnc <bnuoTg sdi no teomta f^feKtttnpIe^ the segment a b c 

 ii e $9nil ^u^L^^lo 9upao-4^%*| O^Jh'betsupposed to repre- 

 sent' a fragment of a hollow 

 nasd^ff r bbi3 ol isqo^^Sgi il P j$hell, and to measure from a 

 biTM/b'gti a*m9^ sraog Joc^j^Wj by b to c just 12 ft., it is some- 

 29/jj^cihj^oq 98odl 9lB'd8uil\oj tiasfes too hastily assumed that 

 ^ifip)9li9qfni i9V9wod c b9T6o*i;tiie circumferencex)f th<e wjjplfe, 

 ^bijja io ilpterfg 9upe9iuJo/q n jbneej.when perfect &ltt&<hbv§1 

 89oli iuo eth ted* ^loV/sdj ^jbe^aidouW^iltiat .^merjsjpn^ 

 9d jK^im bb JnnoDOB ^frodfi oA&&fU>; allowances' ^beingx 

 -qn929ti» jls 89rTtad r i\ptSl 99*ti ?< made. for the exteilkflf; ip Crease 

 ^Ino ion *>Hf A-^{Sua 9flt Qjofrtkeffehellr^a^nf^ub^q^nil^ 

 £ no admil briB iruni sidi Io iaotil!ra><l|0$&ri£j$^ #bseflfoipfcftb 

 tfctftilawherese <tte utmcHftJjciirakmfeije^ 



might not probably have exceeded the dimension represented.; 

 by the inner dotted circle (d). h mo-ft W9J> 1o glnioq JnsisftiB 

 But to return to the Bucklandyew : the encasing of the old' 

 dead wood by that of more modern formation f is well dis- 

 played also in one part of the southern limb of the tree, where 

 ail aperture occurs, which exposes to view the dead wood 

 completely enveloped and embedded within the living. The 

 trunk, I have said, is decayed, and hollow at the bottom ; but 

 from within the shell there arise two or more vigorous 

 detached portions, of small diameter, which soon unite with 

 the main wood, and run up to a considerable height, lapping 

 into one another, twisting and interlacing in a very striking 

 manner, so as to suggest the idea that the trunk has been 

 ripped open, and is now exposing to view its very entrails. 

 Imagination, indeed, might readily trace a fanciful resemblance 

 between this vegetable ruin, as viewed in a particular position, 

 and some anatomical preparation of an animal trunk, of which 

 the viscera are displayed, and preserved entire. On the 



whole, I cannot but consider this yew as a most curious and 

 (.sniDtvj n& ? 9qold '/^cm llBffia £ no ji\i to 



* See some observations of Mr. South, in his letters on the growth of 

 oaks, addressed to the Bath Society, quoted in Strutt's Sylva Britannica, 

 8vo edit., p. 20. ^ bldtzD tk y 



f This may be seen well exemplified in an old yew tree close to the 

 parsonage (?) house at Barfreston, and in another in the churchyard at 

 Waldershare. Many fine old specimens of yew trees occur in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dover; one in a churchyard by the side of the road to Deal, 

 near Walmer, of which I had only a passing glimpse, I regret that I had 

 not an opportunity of visiting and examining them at leisure. 



