''a few notches on old trees." 187 



wanted. Nor is it celebrated only for its toughness and 

 elasticity, bat also for its durability. The hardy veteran 

 fears neither storms above nor damps below. It is a common 

 saying amongst the inhabitants of the New Forest that a 

 post of yew will outlast a post of iron. 



There are many very fine yews scattered about in Grreat 

 Britain, and several are said to have been in existence for 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 years. One of the most celebrated, and 

 probably the oldest, is at Fortingall, near Aberfeldy, Perth- 

 shire, Scotland. Pennant described it as having a trunk 

 56| ft. in circumference, and which divided into two distinct 

 parts, between which funeral processions used to pass on their 

 way to the church. What remains of it is now most carefully 

 preserved. I was very much disappointed not to see this 

 tree when in the vicinity last year, but the weather was so 

 persistently wet that the visit could not be accomplished. 

 Dr. Haggart of Aberfeldy has very recently written me 

 about it, and he says the yew is just the same as when first 

 enclosed for its safety. Before that time curiosity hunters 

 and others made sad havoc with it. " But the greatest 

 destruction," he says, "done to the tree was in the begin- 

 ning of the present century, by boys keeping up the old 

 custom of burning Beltane fires against it, like our still 

 surviving Hallow E'en bonfires." There were evidences of 

 the charred condition of the trunk in the memory of people 

 still living. This tree is stated to be betw^een 2,500 and 

 2,600 years old, and I might liere make a few remarks 

 about the method of calculation adopted, as there are some 

 very interesting facts connected with this yew ; but I will 

 refer to them later on. 



At Fountains Abbey, near Ripon in Yorkshire, there are 

 still some remains of the magnificent trees which tradition 

 asserts gave a shelter to the monks, who originally built 



