2380 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
commonly yew, from four fect to six feet long, without any felt wrapped round the 
middle of it to stay the hand, as is done at present. There were, however, two pieces 
of horn, one at each end, to retain the string, which resembled those now in use. 
The best wood for the arrows is ash, and the next best birch or hornbeam. The manu- 
facturers of bows were called bowyers, and the arrow-makers fletchers ; hence surnames 
very common in England to this time. These manufacturers petitioned Queen Eliza- 
beth in 1570 to enforce in their favour a statute that every man should have a bow 
in his house. She did so, and butts were erected in different places, such as Newington 
Butts, where every able-bodied man was enjoined to practise the art of shooting the 
bow. When yew could no longer be obtained of sufficient size to make an entire 
bow, it struck a bowyer of Manchester of the name of Kelsal, about the end of the 
sixteenth century, that he might make the back of the bow of another kind of wood, 
retaining the belly of yew. Ash, elm, and several other woods were used for this 
purpose, and at last backed bows became so common as almost to supersede the use of 
self-bows, as those were called made of a single piece. 
The fruit of the yew is applied to no use in Britain, though the kernel of the nut 
may be eaten, and it is said to afford, by expression, an oil which is good for fattening 
poultry. Although the fruit of the yew is harmless, the leaves are not so, and serious 
accidents have resulted from their use. Dr. Taylor, in his work on Poisons, enume- 
rates several fatal cases which have been caused by the infusion of yew leaves being 
given to children as a vermifuge. He also mentions a case where the berries acted 
poisonously, as published by Mr. Hart, of Mansfield. If this be so, the testimony of 
our friend Gerarde is not of much value. Dr. Taylor says, “ There is no doubt that 
the yew is a powerful poison of the narcotic-irritant class. The nature of the poison- 
ous principle is unknown, nor is it certain whether, in respect to the berry, the poison 
is lodged in the pulp or the seed.” In the register of deaths for 1838, and again in 
1840, there appear two cases of females dying from partaking of yew leaves or berries. 
Mr. Knight, finding that wasps prefer the fruit of the yew to that of the vine, suggests 
the idea of planting female yews near the vineries. The use of the yew in ancient 
topiary gardening was very extensive in England and France in the seventeenth 
century. The practice was rendered fashionable by Evelyn, previously to which the 
clipping of trees as garden ornaments was chiefly confined to plants of box, juniper, 
&c., kept by the commercial gardeners of the day in pots and boxes, and trained for 
a number of years till the figure required was complete. Sometimes clipped plants 
of this sort sold for as much as five guineas each, 
The custom of planting yew trees in churchyards and cemeteries has never been 
satisfactorily explained. Some have supposed that the yew trees were placed near 
the churches for the purpose of affording branches on Palm Sunday ; others, that 
they might be safe from cattle, on account of their value in making bows; others, 
that their sombre colour and appearance were emblematical of silence and death ; 
and others, that they were useful in affording shelter to those who came too soon 
for service. Mr. Loudon quotes an article from the pen of Mr. J. E. Bowman in 
the “ Magazine of Natural History,” in which he says, “It seems most natural and 
simple to believe that, being indisputably indigenous, and being, from its perennial 
verdure, its longevity, and the durability of its wood, at once an emblem and a 
specimen of immortality, its branches would be employed by our Pagan ancestors, 
on their first arrival here, as the best substitute for the cypress, to deck the graves of 
the dead, and for other sacred purposes.” As it is the policy of innovators in religion 
to avoid unnecessary interference with matters not essential, these, with many other 
customs of heathen origin, would be retained and engrafted on Christianity on its first 
introduction, History and tradition concur in telling us that this was the case, and 
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