1 4 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



and ran into each corner and cranny of the old 

 wall. Yellow banksia and white clematis climbed 

 the crumbling shafts, or made new tracery for the 

 empty windows, and where the ruins ended, yew 

 hedges, adorned at top with a whole procession 

 of birds and beasts, began. The flowery space 

 thus enclosed was broken in the centre by an old 

 fountain ; and as one sat on a stone seat beside 

 it, one looked through an archway, cut through 

 the darkness of the yews, to the blue river and 

 the hills.' 



The rock-garden is never so well displayed as 

 with a background formed by a yew hedge, which 

 affords it a very efficient protection from cold winds 

 or sun. It also makes a good shelter to a pro- 

 menade in cold weather. The ' Green Gallery ' 

 at Melbourne is an arched avenue of densely inter- 

 laced boughs, probably resulting from a cropped 

 hedge being afterwards allowed to grow naturally. 

 It affords a deep shade. It is not especially beauti- 

 ful or of great age, and must be very gloomy. 



There is a very fine hedge in the garden of the 

 Hon. Canon Bouverie at Pewsey, Wilts, the age 

 of which is uncertain, but it is supposed to be three 

 hundred years. 'It is 171 feet in length, 12 feet 

 9 inches high, and 7 feet wide. At each end there 

 is a clump 18 feet high.' 



Fine avenues of yew-trees are found at Rose- 

 neath, and at Cleish Castle, Kinross ; at Llandagri, 



