400 THE YEW. 



THE YEW. 



In Great Britain the Yew is one of the most celebrated 

 of trees, the one that is generally consecrated to burial- 

 grounds, and that most frequently overshadows the graves 

 of the dead. It is a tree of second magnitude, and re- 

 markable for its longevity. The American Yew is seldom 

 anything more than a prostrate shrub, resembling branches 

 of fir spreading over the ground. It is said, however, that 

 although it is a creeping shrub on the Atlantic coast, it 

 becomes a tree on the coast of the Pacific ; in like man- 

 ner the alder, which is a shrub here, becomes a tree in 

 Oregon and California. 



In New England, the Yew is a solitary tree, growing 

 among deciduous trees as if it required their protection. 

 It never constitutes a forest either here or in Europe. It 

 seems to love the shade, and when it is not under the 

 protection of trees, it is found on the shady sides of hills, 

 and in moist, clayey soils, but never on sandy plains. I 

 shall not speak of the romantic customs associated with 

 the European Yew ; but the absence of this tree deprives 

 us of a veiy romantic feature in landscape. 



