94-2 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



gardeners of the day in pots and boxes, and trained for a number of years, till 

 the figure required was complete. Sometimes, as we find by Gibson, Brailley 

 and others, clipped plants of this sort sold as high as five guineas each ; and, 

 in all probability, this high price first led Evelyn to the idea of chpping the 

 more hardy yew in situations where it was finally to remain. The narrowness 

 of the leaves of the yew renders it far less disfigured by clipping than even 

 the box ; and, as it is much hardier than the juniper, should clipped trees 

 come again into fashion, there can be no doubt that the yew would be pre- 

 ferred to all others. As an avenue tree, the yew may be considered suitable 

 for approaches to cemeteries, mausoleums, or tombs : and, as a single tree, ibr 

 scattering in churchyards and burial-grounds. The most extraordinary col- 

 lection of yew trees in England, or perhaps in the world, is at Elvaston 

 Castle, near Derby. (See Gard. Mag. for 1841.) The yew will grow on 

 any soil that is somewhat moist ; but it thrives best in loams and clays, 

 on rock, and in a shady situation. It is propagated for the most part 

 by seeds ; but the varieties, and also the species, when the object is to 

 form a hedge of plants of the same dimensions and colour of leaf, as 

 already mentioned, should be propagated by cuttings or layers from one 

 plant only. The berries are ripe in October, and should be then ga- 

 thered, carried to the rot-heap, and treated in the same manner as haws. 

 (See p. 382.) If, however, they are sown immediately, enveloped in their 

 pulp, a few of them may come up the following year, and the remainder the 

 second year ; but, if the pulp is allowed to dry round the nut, and they are 

 kept in that state till spring, none of them will come up till the third year. 

 Cuttings may be formed of either one or two years' growth, and planted in a 

 shady border, either in the beginning of April or the end of August. The 

 cuttings will be most certain of success if slipped off with a heel, and if the 

 soil consists chiefly of sand. The leaves should be carefully stripped off the 

 lower part of the cutting, which may be from Tin. to 10 in. in length, and 

 buried to the depth of 5 in. in the soil. Cuttings treated in this manner re- 

 quire two years before they are sufficiently rooted to be removed. In all pro- 

 bability, however, if the points of the shoots were taken and planted in sand 

 under a hand-glass, about midsummer, or before, they would produce roots 

 the same season, and might be transplanted the followmg spring. Whether 

 plants are raised from seeds or cuttings, they ought to unilergo the usual rou- 

 tine of culture in the nursery, till they are 3 or 4 feet high : because, as they 

 are of slow growth, time is gained by this practice ; and the yew transplants 

 so readily at any age, that there is no more danger of plants failing wher 

 transplanted at the height of 6 or 8 feet, than there is when they are only 6 or 

 8 inches high. At Elvaston Castle, already mentioned, above a hundred yew 

 trees between 20 ft. and 40 ft. in height have been transplanted ; some of them 

 brought from a distance of upwards of thirty miles. 



2. T. (b.) canade'nsis IV'dld. The Canada, or North American, Yew. 



Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 856. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 647. 

 Synonytne. T. b. minor Mich. Bur. Amer. 2. p. 24ft. 

 Engiuving. Onrfigt. 210.% 2106. in p. 1110. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves linear, 2-ranked, crowded, revolute. Male flowers 

 globose, always solitary. (lVi//d.) Michaux describes this species as ot' 

 humbler growth than the European yew, of spreading habit, and with 

 smaller flowers and fruit ; and Pursh says that, under the shade of other 

 trees, it does not rise above 2 or 3 feet high. Canatia and Maryland ; grow 

 ing only in shady rocky places, and flowering in March and April. It was 

 introduced in 1800 ; and is apparently only a variety of the common 

 yew. Horticultural Society's Garden. 



m 3. T. HARRiNGTo'N/.i Kuight. The Earl of Harrington's Yew. 



Identification. Fnrhps in Pin. Wob., pi. 68. ; Gard. Mag., vol. xv., p. 273. 



Suiiurii/tncs. ? 76xus macrophJUa Thunb. ; ? PodocArpus macrophyllus Sv<t., l,avib. 2de<J. p 843. 

 J,rb. Brit. 1st ed. p. 21 00. 



