THE DARLEY Vt.W. 105 



cut down, and then the top of this tree may have spread out, and 

 larger rings may have been formed.] Variations also may be 

 caused by the growth of a tree being accelerated or retarded by 

 the difference in the seasons, as will be shown hereafter. The 

 changes in the growth of the Clysthydon yews are very trifling, and 

 hardly worth notice ; for it is clear that the increase of one or two 

 years may completely make up for any deficiency in size in any 

 other. And it must be borne in mind that the question we are 

 discussing is in what time a yew tree might attain the size of the 

 Parley yew, and a single tree may afford a means of forming a 

 reasonable judgment upon that question ; and we have nothing to 

 do with any average of any number of yews, for in all probability 

 any average would give a less result than the fastest growing tree 

 amongst them. It is, however, very well deserving of notice that 

 in the same churchyard there are three yews, each of whose 

 growth so nearly corresponds with that of the others, and that they 

 are of such different ages, as these facts strongly tend to render 

 any conclusion drawn from them very much more trustworthy 

 than if it were drawn from a single tree ; and they also lead to the 

 supposition that such a growth is not extraordinary where yews 

 are planted in churchyards. Indeed, it may be questioned 

 whether the richness of the soil caused by the dead bodies may 

 not produce a much more luxuriant growth in yews than may 

 have been supposed. In an urn, which I found five feet below 

 the surface of a barrow at Bradley, the roots of grass growing on 

 the barrow were amongst the decaying human ashes in the urn — 

 a remarkable proof of the distance to which the roots of plants 

 will penetrate in search of nourishment, and of the great length of 

 time during which the remains of man may supply it. 



It may very reasonably be inferred from the preceding facts and 

 considerations that the Darley yew may well have attained its 

 present size within 600 years. 



But there are other matters that deserve notice. 



There is a manifest difference between the trees. There is 

 nothing remarkable in the shape or growth of the Clysthydon 

 yews. Their boughs are of moderate size, and leave the bole 



