Il6 THE BARLEY YEW. 



Heartily did I rejoice to hear that a guard has been placed 

 around the venerable yew. It is a very laudable act. 



It must not be supposed that I put forward the Clysthydon 

 yews as an example of the finest or fastest growing yews that 

 exist. It is to be hoped that other yews may be discovered that 

 may serve at least equally well for comparison. But it must be 

 borne in mind that none that have grown less rapidly than the 

 Clysthydon Yews can be of any use. In Guilsford Churchyard, 

 Montgomeryshire, the age of a yew is known, which has grown 

 four feet in girth in ioo years. * If the growth of this yew 

 were used as a test of the age of the oldest Clysthydon yew, it 

 would make it about double the age it really is. 



My knowledge of trees commenced at least 70 years ago. 

 For my own amusement, and with my own hands, I have planted, 

 pruned, cut, and fallen trees in all sorts of ways, as well as 

 watched others doing so ; and I have made use of the knowledge 

 so obtained in marking the trees which were fittest to be cut 

 down in thinning plantations, or for sale. My knowledge, there- 

 fore, is practical. I have always been a great admirer of trees, 

 and the Darley yew has long excited an interest in my mind, not 

 only by reason of its transcendant qualities, but otherwise, and 

 nothing would induce me to depreciate it. But to my mind the 

 excellence of a tree consists much more in its rapid and luxuriant 

 growth than in its age, and therefore the faster a large tree is 

 shown to have grown, the more magnificent it is as a tree. But I 

 naturally feel that additional interest may be created by an 

 appearance of age, which is hidden in the mists of antiquity. 



It should be borne in mind that my calculations are based 

 entirely upon the actual measurement of the girths and the known 

 ages of the Clysthydon yews. These are the only grounds upon 

 which any safe conclusion can be founded. Although I have 

 adverted to other considerations, which may seem to show that 

 the growth of the Clysthydon yews may not have been so rapid 

 as that of the Darley yew, I have done so in order to prevent its 

 being supposed that I think that the Clysthydon yews show that 



* Notes and Queries, 5 Series, Vol. v., 376. 



