218 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



of the old twigs. It is the new twigs that are weighted 

 with the pollen, many being divided into several little 

 branches bunched thick together ; a single branch, two 

 inches or so in length, will often bear a full dozen 

 balls of blossom. It is easy, then, to understand how 

 the whole look of a large yew at a little distance may 

 be altered in March. 



Without pollen there can be no yew fruit, no seed 

 for keeping up the stock; and this pollen, so far as 

 we know, depends for carriage wholly on the wind. 

 Certain insects may be found on the pollen blossoms 

 at times I have noticed green flies there in March 

 but they do not fetch and carry the treasure from 

 tree to tree. The wind is the only known porter for 

 the yews, and how- can Nature rely on this fickle agent 

 to carry the fine yellow dust without failure from yew 

 to yew when the trees are separated by hundreds of 

 yards ? 



Billions upon billions of grains of pollen yes, but 

 for a single grain that is carried safe and sure from 

 anther to pistil how many grains must fall to the 

 ground or on surfaces where they are useless ? 



It would seem the merest chance in the world, a 

 fluke, if the wind take the pollen grain to the exact 

 spot where it is wanted. Yet there is the fact that 

 yew trees, some little distance from supplies of pollen, 

 bear fruit, ripen seed. The secret of success can only 

 lie in the amazing bounty of the supply ; the air must 

 be simply pollinated for a time every spring. 



