CHAPTER VIII 



Character of Yew wood — Uses — Manufacture — Value — 

 ' Saint's Yew.' 



The wood is hard, close-grained, of a deep red 

 brown colour, and finely veined ; the sapwood is 

 yellowish white. It was formerly much used in 

 the manufacture of Tunbridgfe ware. It is con- 

 verted into ' cogs for mills, posts to be set in the 

 ground, and everlasting axle-trees ' ; for these, says 

 Evelyn, 'there is none to be compared with it.' 

 Bows also are made from it, and spoons, cups, and 

 'flood-gates for fish-ponds, which hardly ever 

 decay.' ^ 



A remarkable property possessed by it is given 

 on the authority of Boucher, that the wooden part 

 of a bed made of yew ' will most certainly not be 

 approached by bugs.' ' Cabinet-makers and in- 

 layers (particularly for parquetry floors) most gladly 

 employ it.' ^ 



Evelyn continues : ' likewise for bodies of lutes, 

 theorboes, bowls, wheels, and pins for pulleys ; yea, 

 and for tankards to drink out of.'^ He denies 



^ Withering, British Plants. - Sell)y, Brit. Forest Trees, p. 371. 



■" Evelyn, Sylva, vol. i. p. 25S, 1776. 



