GARDEN LORE 



679 



Photograph by Judge, London 

 A VISTA AT HAMPTON COURT 



Hampton Court Palace is surrounded by entrancing gardens, embellished with art objects 

 of priceless value, but the glory of the historic old place is its oak trees, ancient and tow- 

 ering, and expressive of England, old and new. Under the springing arch of this noble old 

 oak is glimpsed a vista of that part of Hampton Court designed by Sir Christopher Wren. 



is said to be three thousand two hundred and fifty years 

 of age ; still another, not in England, however, but some- 

 times called "the oldest living thing on earth," is the 

 giant yew at Chapultepec, Mexico, measuring 120 

 feet around the bole, and boasting the hoary age of six 

 thousand two hundred and seventy years ! 



The yew is far from graceful in proportions, but it is 

 a robust, strong-limbed tree with a devil-may-care angle 

 to every branch, an air of ob- 

 vious independence, and gives 

 the impression of strength 

 and endurance. Although not 

 poisonous, the yew is credited 

 by many with that dangerous 

 and disagreeable quality, and 

 thus its name in the form of 

 toxicum is used to designate 

 all poisons. 



This peculiar tree is famous 

 in song and story, but is more 

 at home in legend and history ; 

 for, indeed, its tough old 

 branches furnished the re- 

 markable long-bows of the 

 valiant English archers and 

 cross - bowmen who fought 

 with grim success at Agin 

 court, Crecy, Orleans, Pales- 

 tine, and on many other for- 

 eign fields and domestic bat- 

 tle grounds. History without 

 the stout yew-bow would lose 

 much of its engaging romance 



as far as England is con- 

 c e rn e d , and the British 

 legends would be a very dif- 

 ferent article had the yew tree 

 not found Britain a friendly 

 .soil. 



The Sherwood Forest yews 

 provided Robin Hood and his 

 rollicking band of woodsmen 

 with their thrice-dreaded long- 

 bows, and when the gallant 

 outlaw leader was about to die 

 he shot an arrow from a win- 

 dow of Kirkley Hall with the 

 injunction to his faithful lieu- 

 tenant, Little John, "Bury me 

 where the arrow falls." A 

 swift flight and the shaft fell 

 at the foot of a yew in the 

 churchyard, and there, as he 

 had entreated, the romantic 

 hero of the "Forest Tales" 

 lies buried. 



As the yew grows, it is con- 

 tinually sending up shoots 

 from the lower part of its 

 bole, and as these shoots enlarge they take an upright 

 position, finally adhering and coalescing with the older 

 growth, until the tree presents the appearance of having 

 several trunks more or less grown together, and one, 

 standing before a giant yew, may readily see whence 

 came the popular idea that the yew trunk served medie- 

 val builders as a model for the clustered columns of their 

 cathedral aisles. 



TREES ARE USED BY 



V. Photograph by Judge, London 



THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT WITH 

 TELLING EFFECT 



Yew, oak and plane are combined in vista eflfects around about old Canterbury, and 

 close to the ivy-covered walls are those old-fashioned flowers of age-long appeal, which 

 shed a brilliancy all their own in nook and corner, imparting that delightful touch so 

 familiar in English landscape work. 



