36 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



ingenious Michel Montaigne, who has the merit of 

 having been the first, in 1581, in his Voyage en 

 Italie, to notice the relation of the annual rings to 

 the age of the tree. (Adrien de Jussieu, Cours 

 Mmentaire de Botanique, 1840, p. 61.) 



' A skilful artist, engaged in the preparation of 

 astronomical instruments, had called the attention 

 of Montaigne to the rings, and he also maintained 

 that the rings were narrower on the north side of 

 the tree.' 1 



The yew-tree has hitherto been regarded as the 

 most slowly-growing, as it is undoubtedly the most 

 durable, of all trees. It ' appears to me,' says 

 De Candolle, 'of all European trees, to be that 

 which attains the greatest age.' But while it is 

 true that they have reached an age of centuries, 

 the dates assigned to them are, in many instances, 

 absolutely fabulous. 



Traditional accounts are untrustworthy, and of 

 historical records there is scarcely a reliable one to 

 be found which exceeds two hundred years. 

 Records of this kind, * when reliable,' may, as De 

 Candolle suggests, ' throw light on the history of 

 ancient buildings, as these may in turn throw light 

 on the age of the trees.' The latter suggestion 

 has been largely acted on in this country, with 

 results which are often most unsatisfactory, and 

 sometimes even absurd, as will be shown later. 



1 Humboldt, Aspects of Nature, vol. ii. p. 94. 



