go 



attention was turned to planting it as an orna- 

 mental tree. It forms an ereti tree of no great 

 height, with numerous long-spreading branches 

 close to the ground. The growth is slow, but a 

 yew is believed to live to an extraordinary age, 

 insomuch that the lapse of a century does not 

 much afifeft a matured specimen. The wood is 

 said to be more durable than that of any other 

 tree. 



The dark green leaves, about an inch long, 

 are arranged in lateral rows, like a comb. One 

 sex only is produced on an individual plant; the 

 male flowers are in small yellow catkins, and 

 the small green female flowers, which appear in 

 the axils of the leaf stalks, develop into bright 

 red berries about the size of a pea. The trunk 

 is generally deeply grooved, and the thin reddish- 

 brown bark has a disposition to peel. The 

 poisonous properties of the foliage of the yew 

 have been known from time immemorial, and are 

 referred to by early Greek writers ; the berries 

 are believed not to be poisonous — at any rate, 

 they are devoured with impunity by the black- 

 bird and the missel-thrush. 



The yew is a very hardy evergreen, and best 

 suited by a strong soil. When pared for a few 

 years, it will make a dense fence. The yew 

 hedges in some of the old English gardens are 

 very pifturesque, and a venerable yew tree is an 



