LXXVI. TAXA CE.JE : TA. XU& 



94 i 



1752. T. bacckta. 



fine orange red, or deep brown ; and the sap wood, which does not extend to 

 a great depth, is white, and also very iiard. Where the two woods join, 

 there are generally different shades of red, brown, and white : both woods 

 are susceptible of a very high polish. Varennes de Fenilles states that the 

 wood, before it has been seasoned, when cut into thin veneers, and immersed 

 some months in pond water, will take a purple violet colour ; probab'y owing 

 to the presence of alkali in the water. According to this author, the wood 

 of the yew weighs, when green, 80 lb. 9oz, per cubic foot; an^', when dry, 

 61 lb. 7 oz. It requires a longer time to become perfectly dr- than any other 

 wood whatever; audit shi'inks so little in drying, as not to lose above J^ 

 part of its bulk. 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 in. in diameter. It is universally allowed to be the finest European wood 

 for cabinet-making purposes. The principal use for which the yew was cul- 

 tivated, before the introduction of gunpowder, was for making bows ; but 

 these are now chiefly made of foreign wood. For details respecting making 

 bows of the yew tree, see Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. iv. p. 2086. The yew 

 makes excellent hedges for shelter ; undergrowth for the protection of 

 game ; and. when planted thick on suitable soil, so as to be drawn up with 

 clean an^^ straight trunks, most valuable timber. When a yew hedge is wanted 

 to be of one shade of green, the plants should all be raised from cuttings 

 of the same tree ; and, when they are intended to show fruit, in order to 

 rival a holly hedge, only female plants should be chosen or propagated; and 

 the hedge, like holly hedges kept for their fruit, should be cut in with a knife, 

 and never clipped with the shears. Single scattered trees, when intended to 

 be ornamental by their berries, should, of course, always be females ; and, in 

 order to determine their sex, they should not be removed to where they are 

 finally to remain till they have flowered. This may, doubtless, be accelerated 

 by ringing a branch on each plant after it has attained 5 or 6 years' growth. 

 The use of the yew tree in ancient topiary gardening, during the seventeenth 

 century, was as extensive, in England and France, as that of the box seems to 

 have been in Italy in the days of Pliny. The practice was rendered fashion- 

 able by Evelyn, previously to which the clipping of trees as garden ornaments 

 was chiefly confined to plants of box, juniper, &c., kept by the commercial 



