THE YEW AND HORTICULTURE. 137 



The association of the Yew with gardening in England began early 

 in the sixteenth century. It was brought into prominent notice 

 towards the end of the century by Evelyn, who claims the "merit" 

 of being the first to introduce the fashion of clipping it into artificial 

 shapes which became general during the next century. It was first 

 used in the formation of hedges for purposes of utility, but the dense 

 growth it assumes when pruned, its apparently unlimited duration, and 

 the readiness witli which it may be cut into many shapes without 

 impairing its vitality, soon" led to its being extensively used in topiary 

 work, which had been previously confined chiefly to the Box and 

 Juniper. The dark dense foliage of the Yew, and its more robust and 

 taller growth than the Box or Juniper, offered facilities for the 

 introduction into gardens, by artificial means, of many varieties of form, 

 and the fashion of clipping Yews into geometric figures, and also into 

 the figures of birds, beasts, and even the human shape, became for a 

 time a very prevalent practice, which reached its height towards the 

 close of the seventeenth and during the early part of the eighteenth 

 century. The popularity of the Yew as an ornamental garden plant 

 during this period may be partly accounted for by the paucity of ever- 

 green trees and shrubs at that time available,* and the desire for variety 

 created by the taste for gardening which began to be general among all 

 classes. The practice gradually fell into disuse as the introduction of 

 exotic hardy trees and shrubs became more frequent, and supplied a more 

 natural and pleasing variety than the uncouth figures which one kind 

 of tree was made to take, but into which Xature never intended it to 

 grow. Many evidences of the old topiary work are still to be met 

 with, and not a few old Yews are made to retain the figures into 

 which they were originally cut and trimmed. Some of the most 

 remarkable of these are to be seen at Levens Hall, Westmoreland, 

 where the topiary foible of our horticultural predecessors is still main- 

 tained in all its quaint antagonism to Nature. f 



Not less striking but more modern, and, if we may use the ex- 

 pression, more rational, is the topiary work at Elvaston Castle, near 

 Derby, the seat of the Earl of Harrington. A large portion of this 

 consists of ornamental hedges of the common Yew, either dividing 

 parts of the grounds from each other, or enclosing spaces devoted to 

 special subjects ; and of single specimens, both of the common Yew 

 and its golden variety, cut into conical pyramids of uniform size and 

 height, and of such there are upwards of one thousand. There are 

 comparatively few representations of birds and animals ; the bolder 

 work represents the walls and bastions of a Xorman castle, archways, 



* The number of native evergreen trees and shrubs may be counted on the lingers, thus 

 \ ew, Scots Pine, Juniper, Holly, Privet, Ivy, Butcher's Broom, Spurge Laurel and Mistletoe 

 (the Box is a doubtful native), and up to the close of the seventeenth century the number of 

 exotic evergreen trees introduced was not much greater, and some of them were very rare. 

 The best known were the Spruce Fir, Silver Fir, Stone Pine, Pinaster, Red Cedar, Savin, 

 Arbor Vitse, Evergreen Oak, Sweet Bay, Laurustine, Portugal Laurel, Phillyrea and Arbutus. 

 See the " Gardeners' Chronicle" for 1874, p. 264, where an account of the topiary work 

 at Levens Hall is given, illustrated with woodcuts of some of the most remarkable groups 

 which include figures of the British Lion ; Queen Elizabeth and ladies ; the Judge's Wig, 

 a number of Yews planted in a half circle, so as to form an arbour by bringing the branches 

 over the top in a hood or wig-like fashion ; and many others. These figures were first 

 formed early in the eighteenth century, so that for upwards of one hundred and eighty 

 years these Yews must have had their young growth cut off to keep the figures within the 

 prescribed shape and size, a proof of the astonishing tenacity of life possessed by the Yew. 



