38 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



verdure of the beeches. There are also many noble 

 specimens to be seen in the New Forest, in spite of the 

 fact that the yew-tree, being unprotected by forest 

 laws, has often, as Gilpin tells us, " been made booty of 

 by those who durst not lay violent hands on the oak or 

 the ash." And no tree is more valuable for posts and 

 rails. A post of yew, say the squatters of the Forest, 

 will outlast a post of iron. Still there are a number of 

 fine yews left. One tree of peculiar beauty occupied a 

 small knoll not far from Boldre Church, which was a 

 special favourite with the author of Forest Scenery, for 

 " in point of picturesque beauty " it probably equalled, 

 he considered, any yew-tree in the country. At Sloden, 

 too, not far from the spot where Rufus fell, there is " a 

 thick wood of yews, standing massive and black ; in 

 all their depth of foliage mixed, in loveliest contrast, 

 with clumps of white-beams." 



Hampshire, too, possesses the finest yew avenue in 

 England. This remarkable stretch of trees is situated 

 in the parish of Chilton Candover, some five miles from 

 Alresford, where for more than half-a-mile it runs 

 from the high road to the site of a Saxon church, unfor- 

 tunately pulled down in 1876, arid an ancient mansion 

 now also destroyed. The trees stand about forty feet 

 apart, their branches joining for the most part through- 

 out the entire length. The effect produced is most 

 striking. It is difficult to estimate, with any degree of 

 certainty, the age of yew-trees ; but in the opinion of 

 experts the avenue was probably planted in the four- 

 teenth or fifteenth century. 



That the yew-tree has the singular power of renew- 

 ing, as it were, its youth, is well known to all lovers of 

 nature. When an ancient trunk has become decayed 



