244 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
to losses of this kind among his friends; and in 
the island of Ely had once the mortification to 
see nine young steers or bullocks of his own 
all lying dead in a heap from browsing a little 
on a hedge of yew in an old garden, into which 
they had broken in snowy weather. . . . True it 
is that yew trees stand for twenty years or more 
in a field, and no bad consequences ensue; but 
at some time or other cattle, either from wanton- 
ness when full, or from hunger when empty 
(from both which circumstances we have seen 
them perish), will be meddling to their certain 
destruction.’ 
Evelyn admired the holly, and who does not? 
He went into positive raptures about it. ‘But, 
above all the natural Greens which enrich our 
home-born store, there is none certainly to be 
compar’d to the Holly ; insomuch as I have often 
wonder’d at our Curiosity after forreign Plants, 
and expensive difficulties, to the neglect of the 
culture of this vulgar, but incomparable Tree ; 
whether we will propagate it for Use, and Defence ; 
or for sight and ornament. 
‘Is there under heaven a more glorious and 
refreshing object of the kind, than an impreg- 
