Uses of Yew wood 109 



In India 1 it is used for native bedsteads, bows, 

 jampan poles, upholstery, and clogs. * Whip-handles 

 are also made of the branches, and from time imme- 

 morial it has been the principal wood used for bows.' 2 



' The bark (sang, sangha) is exported to Ladak 

 from Kunawar, to be mixed with tea and to be 

 used as a red dye.' 



In Ireland the wood is used for rungs of ladders. 

 Captain O'Brien of Drumsilla House, Carrigallen, 

 writes that he has had some in use for thirty years, 

 and they are as sound as ever. 



Loudon says : 3 ' The fineness of its grain is 

 owing to the thinness of its annual layers, 280 of 

 these being sometimes found in a piece not more 

 than 20 inches in diameter.' 



' The sapwood, though of as pure a white as the 

 wood of the holly, is easily dyed of a jet black, 

 when it has the appearance of ebony.' 



In Wales, great value used to be set upon the 

 yew-tree ; as is proved by the ancient Welsh laws, 4 

 the consecrated yew of the priests having got to 

 supplant in value the sacred mistletoe of the 

 Druids. The following extract of the ancient 

 Welsh laws fixes the value of the different trees. 

 It must be borne in mind that at the age to which 

 it refers, fruit-trees, such as apple-trees, were com- 

 paratively scarce. 



1 Balfour, Trees, etc., of India. " Brandis, Forest Flora of India. 



3 Arboretum. 4 Cambrian Register, vol. vi. p. 332. 



