THE CONE-BEARING PLANTS 115 
is probably to this demand that we may attribute the 
number of old yews to be found in churchyards. The 
foliage is so poisonous that it was not safe to have the 
tree where cattle could get at it, but in churchyards it 
could do no harm. In many parts of the country one 
may find these relics of the past, and I cannot resist 
the temptation of giving you Wordsworth’s description 
of the 
“Yew tree, pride of Lorton Vale, 
Which to this day stands single, in the midst 
Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore ; 
Not loth to furnish weapons for the Bands 
Of Umfraville or Percy ere they marched 
To Scotland’s heaths ; or those that crossed the sea 
And drew their sounding bows at Azincour, 
Perhaps at earlier Crecy, or Poictiers. 
Of vast circumference and gloom profound 
This solitary tree :—a living thing 
Produced too slowly ever to decay ; 
Of form and aspect too magnificent 
To be destroyed. But worthier still of note 
Are those fraternal Four of Borrowdale,* 
Joined in one solemn and capacious grove ; 
Huge trunks ! and each particular trunk a growth, 
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine 
Up-coiling, and inveterately convolved. . . 
A pillared shade, 
[pon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue, 
By sheddings from the pining umbrage Baeed 
Eaeaaiaite betsenth whose sable ae 
Of boughs, as if for festal purpose, decked 
With unrejoicing berries—ghostly shapes 
May meet at noontide.” 
However, the exploits of the yew bow-stave, and the 
poetry of the tree, lead us too far from our Pines and 
Firs, many of which still await an introduction to you. 
* No longer four, alas! in 1902. 
