306 LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 



Sylva, published in London in 1664, thus bursts out in 

 eloquent praise of it : " Above all natural greens which 

 enrich our home-born store, there is none certainly to be 

 compared to the Holly ; insomuch that I have often 

 wondered at our curiosity after foreign plants and expen 

 sive difficulties, to the neglect of the culture of this vulgar 

 but incomparable tree, — whether we will propagate it for 

 use and defence, or for sight and ornament. Is there 

 under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the 

 kind, than an impregnable hedge of one hundred and 

 sixty-five feet in length, seven high, and five in diameter, 

 which I can show in my poor gardens, at any time of the 

 year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves ? The 

 taller standards at orderly distances blushing with their 

 natural coral. It mocks the rudest assaults of the weather, 

 beasts, or hedge-breaker : — ■ 



' Et ilium nemo impune lacessit.' " 



The Yew Tree. Taxus. 



Nat. Ord. Taxaceae. Lin. Syst. Monoecia, Monadelphia. 



The European Yew is a slow-growing, evergreen tree, 

 which often, when full grown, measures forty feet in height, 

 and a third more in the diameter of its branches. The 

 foliage is flat, linear, and is placed in two rows, like that of 

 the Hemlock tree, though much darker in color. The 

 flowers are brown or greenish, and inconspicuous, but they 

 are succeeded by beautiful scarlet berries, about half or 

 three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which are open at 

 the end where a small nut or seed is deposited. These 



