pkesident's addeess. 197 



case. The Yew is a well known instance of this. In the days 

 when the battles of Crecy and Poitiei's were fought and won, it 

 Was by the English archers' skill that the victory was mainly 

 achieved. The bows were of Yew. And great must have been 

 the consumption of wood, and vast the destruction of such a slow 

 growing tree as the Yew, to meet the demands of the army in 

 Edward the Third's days. Thus in 1341 we find a proclamation 

 sent* forth ordering a large number of bows and arrows, " be- 

 cause we want many bows and arrows for an expedition against 

 Erance, which we have taken in strong hand." There were or- 

 dered 7,300 bows, 14,550 sheaves of arrows, each containing 24 

 (thus giving about four dozen rounds for each bow), 2,000 sepa- 

 rate heads for the arrows, and 50 dozen cords for the bows. They 

 were to be paid for at 12d. each; each sheaf of arrows with 

 sharp heads 14d., and without 12d. 



This, considering the great difference of the purchasing power 

 of money in those days and in ours, seems a high price. 



The invention of gunpowder and muskets erelong rendered the 

 bow an obsolete weapon, and with the bow the Yew fell into 

 comparative disuse. For centuries afterwards it was the wood 

 from which better class spoons were made, the Beech or the 

 Sycamore furnishing that for commoner ones; but now, as a 

 Kentish farmer not long since remarked to me, even its value for 

 that purpose was gone. The iron and the nickel spoon have 

 banished the yew one to the regions of flint and steel tinder 

 boxes and other like commodities. 



But there is a field of observation, which neither strikes the 

 mind or the eye so readily as this, less obvious, less easy to work 

 out, but fully as interesting. 



The humble plants which are found in the field, or on the 

 mountain slope, by the edge of the dusty road, or in the marshy 

 pool, how came they there ? Are they wanderers from some far 

 off clime ? from some neighbouring coiintry ? or have they always 

 been dwellers in this land ? 



Let us take an instance or two in point, which may act as 

 finger posts to guide us in our enquiries. 



♦Longman's "Edward III.," Vol. I., p. 167. 



