312 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



Ireland, nearly two hundred years ago, and a couple of trees 

 of it were then cultivated at Florence Court by the Earl 

 of Enniskillen of that date. Thousands of cuttings have 

 been sent from one of these two original trees, which is 

 still vigorous (I saw it some thirty years ago at Florence 

 Court) all over the world. It is known as the " Florence 

 Court yew," or " Irish yew," and is commonly planted in 

 gardens. But all are from cuttings of this one original 

 tree, or cuttings of its cuttings, and all, like their parent, 

 are female berry-bearing trees, for the male and female 

 flowers grow on separate trees in the yew. 



The foliage of the yew contains aromatic and other 

 chemical products, which render it poisonous to cattle. 

 It is said not to be poisonous when quite fresh, but only 

 some time after cutting. This, however, needs confirma- 

 tion. The yew makes an admirably compact and im- 

 pervious screen when grown as a hedge, and has been 

 largely used in gardens for this purpose. In the sixteenth 

 century it was the custom to clip yew hedges, or small 

 yew trees, into all sorts of strange shapes, birds, beasts, 

 and crowns. The name " topiary " is given to this 

 fanciful work. The popularity of the yew in the gardens 

 of those days is due to the small number of our native 

 evergreen shrubs and trees ; they are yew, Scots fir, 

 juniper, holly, privet, ivy, butcher's broom, box (a doubt- 

 ful native), spurge-laurel, and mistletoe. Up to the end 

 of the seventeenth century only a few evergreens had 

 been introduced from abroad, viz., spruce pine, silver fir, 

 stone pine, pinaster, the cedar of Lebanon, savin, arbor 

 vitas, evergreen oak, sweet bay, Portugal laurel, laurustine, 

 and arbutus. 



I have often wished to have some simple, straight- 

 forward information as to conifers, so as to be able to 



