34 



IRISH GARDENING. 



petiKited. Tlie i^-^oldcu-borricci you was quilc 

 accideiUally raised, in Kiklare, 1 think, and il 

 also has kept true to its newly-toumlccl type. 



The \ ew has practically no commercial value 

 now, and it is so slow of j^TOwth that it certainly 

 does not lend itself to the modern desire for 

 quick returns. It takes about 500 years to 

 slowly swell its hutt into a respectable loi;-, and 

 there are yews in Eni^land, and probably in 

 Ireland also, that are certainly 1,000 years old, 

 and are still possessed of all their faculties. 

 F"rom very ancient times the yew was considered 

 especially suitable for planting near places of 

 worship, and most of our historic trees stand by 

 the crumbling^ ruins of the churches they have 

 long- outlived, placed there by the pious hands 

 of men whose bodies have crumbled into the 

 dust of utter oblivion hundreds and hundreds of 

 years ago, and all their good deeds are forgotten, 

 save this one monument. 



It is the " English yew," as it is called, that 

 is the original spreading yew that is used for 

 the making of hedges and the clipping into 

 fantastic shapes, in what is called topiary work. 

 The reason it is so suitable for this is, that it is 

 a very strong shade bearer, and consequently 

 grows dense, and no matter how much it is cut 

 back it sprouts again stronger than ever. 



Yew leaves if eaten by cattle are injurious and 

 often fatal. This, I believe, is not because they 

 contain any poisonous matter, but because the 

 sharp spine at the end of each leaf sets up 

 irritation internally. Certainly withered yew 

 clippings are much more dangerous than fresh 

 yew, and the reason given is that the spine has 

 become harder and tougher. It is a common 

 thing to see yew trees standing in grazing fields ; 

 no harm seems to follow the few twigs the cattle 

 nibble off, though a barrow load of yew clippings 

 thrown into the field would kill every beast in it. 



The " churchyard yew " is a feature of many 

 a quiet God's acre, and the dark-green sombre 

 foliage seems fitting to the office of silent senti- 

 nel over all that is left of the generations that 

 have come and gone. There is an inscription 

 on a mossy stone under a great yew in an old 

 world Yorkshire churchyard that expresses a 

 a world of pathos in language so quaint that a 

 smile is surely excusable — 



" Under this yew tree 

 Fain would I be, 

 E'en because Hebe 

 Lies where she be." 



Some Notes on Eelvvorms. 



Uy I'KOI. C'.KO. II. C AKI'KMK.K, H.Sc. 



SlvKIOr.S damage to garden plants is often 

 caused by eel worms o( various species, 

 yet there is apparently much misapprehen- 

 sion as to the nature of these creatures. They 

 are by no means easy to recognise, being far 

 smaller tlian the small white worms (/tnr/iy- 

 tncidce) oi the earthworm group that seem 

 to be often mistaken for them. A length of 

 one twenty-fifth o'i an inch, or even less, 

 may be the extent oi a full-grown eelworm, 

 and in order to study the creatures it is 

 necessary to tease up the tissues of the plants 

 ow which they are feeding and examine the 

 debris with a microscope. Then the tiny eel- 

 worms may be observed passing with active 

 wriggling or looping motion among the frag- 

 ments. 



Eelworms belong to the class Nematoda. 

 They have no trace of segmentation nor of the 

 bristles that characterise the Annelida (or 

 creatures of the earthworm group). The stiff, 

 smooth cuticle of the Nematoda gives them 

 great distinctness and definition of outward 

 form, while the transparency of this cuticle en- 

 ables the student to see clearly their internal 

 structure. The pow^erful muscular pharynx (Fig. 

 2A, p.) is always a conspicuous object; this 

 with the gullet is formed by an inpushing of the 

 body wall with its outer skin and cuticle. The 

 intestine {int.) is long and flattened ; its wall, 

 devoid of any muscular tissue, consists only of 

 a layer of digesting and absorbing cells. 

 Nematoda are usually of separate sexes (in this 

 again contrasting with the hermaphrodite earth- 

 worms), and their long, tubular, reproductive 

 organs, with developing germ-cells, can be 

 readily seen through the transparent body-wall. 

 The vas deferens of the male (Fig. 1,2, B, v. d.) 

 often provided with hard, sharp spicules {sp.) 

 opens far back near the vent of the intestine 

 {ati.). In the female the vagina {va.) is always 

 in front of this position. 



The Anguillulidse or eelworms are Nematoda 

 of small size, with two swellings in the gullet 

 and two equal spicules in the male worm. The 

 mouth is frequently provided with a horny 

 " dart " {d.), by means of which food substances 

 are pierced and nourishment is obtained. Eel- 

 worms of numerous species swarm in damp 



