238 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



if scalded and sowed in autumn, immediately after being ga- 

 thered, they vegetate freely. For hedges the Holly is alto- 

 gether unrivalled ; and it was also one of the favourite plants 

 for verdant sculpture^ in the ancient style of gardening. 

 Evelyn, in the edition of his Sylva, published in London in 

 1664, thus bursts out in eloquent praise of it : " Above all 

 natural greens which enrich our home-born store, there is 

 none certainly to be compared to the Holly ; insomuch that 

 I have often wondered at our curiosity after foreign plants 

 and expensive difficulties, to the neglect of the culture of this 

 vulgar but incomparable tree, — whether we will propagate 

 it for use and defence, or for sight and ornament. Is there 

 under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the 

 kind, than an impregnable hedge of one hundred and sixty- 

 five feet in length, seven high, and five in diameter, which I 

 can show in my poor gardens, at any time of the year, glit- 

 tering with its armed and varnished leaves ? The taller 

 standards, at orderly distances, blushing with their natural 

 coral. It mocks the rudest assaults of the weather, beasts, 

 or hedge-breaker : — 



' Et ilium nemo impune lacessit.' " 



The Yew Tree. Taxus. 



Nat. Ord. Taxaceae. Lin. Syst. Moncecia, Monadelphia. 



The European Yew is a slow-growing, evergreen tree, 

 which often when full grown, measures forty feet in height, 

 and a third more in the diameter of its branches. The fol- 

 iage is flat, linear, and is placed in two rows, like that of the 

 Hemlock tree, though much darker in colour. The flowers 

 are brown or greenish, and inconspicuous, but they are sue- 



