1074 



pvoiliices an effect so pleasing to the view, that it can scarcely he surpassed by any- 

 tliing which the southern forests present to the lover of Botany, as he wanders through 

 their mazes. 



" The hole of this tree possesses the power of effectually reproducing a supply of 

 main branches, after the original ones have been severed from it by the axe of the 

 woodman. At Lupset Hall, the residence of our former honest member for Wake- 

 field, Daniel Gaskell, Esq., there stands a lordly yew, by far the most gigantic of any 

 in this neighbourhood. At some period of time, now long gone by, all its larger 

 branches have been cut away from the stem. Others now supply their place ; and by 

 the present healthy aspect of the tree, we may conclude that, at some future day, this 

 second series of main branches will have attained a growth and vigour equal to what 

 the original ones would have presented to us, had they been allowed to remain on the 

 tree."— p. 60. 



Speaking of the yew-trees growing near our old churches, Mr. 

 Waterton is of opinion that they were planted in such situations for 

 "the facility of obtaining sprigs and branches to be used during the 

 processions." We must confess this explanation appears to us much 

 more feasible than that which attributes the presence of the tree near 

 the church to the necessity of keeping up " a good supply of bows in 

 case of war." 



In the Essay on the Ivy, the Wanderer's character as the champion 

 of calumniated innocence is pleasingly exhibited. The Essay contains 

 a masterly defence of this plant, which has frequently been wrong- 

 fully accused of injuring the tree upon which it grows, both by deriv- 

 ing nutriment from the supporting plant, like the dodder and other 

 parasites, and by so closely entwining the branches as to prevent 

 their growth. Mr. Waterton shows that it does neither the one nor 

 the other. 



" We live to learn. I was not sufficiently aware of the value of ivy for the protec- 

 tion of the feathered race, until I had seen the pheasant-preserve of the Grand Duke 

 of Tuscany, in the year 1817. It is called the Cascini, and it is a kind of Hyde Park 

 for the inhabitants of Florence in their evening recreations. 



" At the grove of the Cascini, you see the ivy growing in all its lofty pride and 

 beauty. As I gazed on its astonishing luxuriance, 1 could not help entertaining a 

 high opinion of the person, be he alive or dead, through whose care and foresight such 

 an effectual protection had been afforded to the wild birds of heaven, in the very midst 

 of the ' busy haunts of men.' The trees in this ornamented grove are loaded with a 

 profusion of ivy, from their lowest to their topmost branches ; and although crowds of 

 fashionable carriages were rolling along the road which surrounds this preserve, I saw 

 our common pheasant roving through its walks, with a confidence little inferior to that 

 of our own domestic poultry. As the evening closed in upon us, I observed multi- 

 tudes of the smaller birds resorting to the ' ivy-mantled ' trees, in order to enjoy the 

 proffered convenience of nocturnal rest and safety. 



" I have profited by what I saw in Tuscany, — for, on my return to my native 

 place, I began the cultivation of ivy with an unsparing hand. 



