CTijc Sarlrg Ytto. 



By C. S. Greaves, Esq., Q.C 



HE question of the age of very large trees is one which 

 cannot fail to interest those who are admirers of them, 

 and no tree is more likely to excite interest than the 

 yew of our Churchyards, especially when it is remarkable alike 

 for its size and age, and amongst those yews none is more worthy 

 of admiration and interest than the Darley Yew. It is many 

 years since my attention was first called to this magnificent tree, 

 and I have long wished to be able to discover some means by 

 which its age might be at least approximately ascertained, and at 

 last I think that I have succeeded in so doing. 



When staying at Clysthydon, Devonshire, in the spring of 1869, 

 I learned that a remarkable custom has existed there for more 

 than one hundred and fifty years. Whenever a parish clerk has 

 died, a yew tree has been planted upon his grave, and three yews 

 were growing in 1869 upon the graves of three successive clerks ; 

 and it occurred to me that, as the Register would show the time 

 when each clerk was buried, the age of each yew might be 

 ascertained, and the amount of increase in circumference since it 

 was planted found out, and that that might afford a very fair 

 means for calculating the probable age of the Darley yew, 

 especially as the circumstances in both cases appear to be 

 extremely similar. Both churchyards are in a sheltered position, 

 and the vigorous growth of the trees and hedges around them 

 shows that the soil of both is equally well adapted for the growth 

 of timber. 



