76 POPULAR FIELD BOTANY. 
wood is hard and beautifully veined, and much required by 
cabinet makers; it was formerly useful for making bows, 
when our ancestors used those weapons. They also poisoned 
their arrows with the juice. It grows wild in rocky places 
in Cumberland and Westmoreland, and very rarely in Scot- 
land. It is often planted in churchyards, most probably on 
account of its mournful appearance. In Ireland and Wales, 
twigs of Yew are often carried at funerals. The flowers are 
singularly formed, and the berry is scarlet ; some botanists 
affirm that it is poisonous, but this notion is now discarded. 
Our ancestors cultivated it m their gardens, and clipped it 
in the most fantastic manner. I have, myself, seen one cut 
into the form of a hen hovering over her chickens. It was 
only the upper part of the tree which formed the figure, the 
lower part being clipped quite round, and forming an 
arbour. The movement caused by the wind gave the appear- 
ance of motion to the hen’s feathers. 
