GARDEN DESIGN 55 



great order as the Yew gathered from a 

 thousand hills — from British Columbia, 

 through North America and Europe to 

 the Atlas Mountains, and not one of 

 them has yet proved to be so beautiful 

 as our native Yew when it is allowed to 

 grow undipped root or branch. But in 

 gardens the quest for the strange and 

 exotic is so constant, that few give a fair 

 chance to the Yew as a tree, while in 

 graveyards where it is so often seen in a 

 very old state, the frequent destruction of 

 the roots in grave-digging prevents the 

 tree from reaching its full stature and 

 beauty, though there are Yews in English 

 churchyards that have lived through a 

 thousand winters. 



I do not clip my Yews, because 

 clipping destroys the shape of one of the 

 most delightful in form of all trees, 

 beautiful, too, in its plumy branching. 

 It is not my own idea only that I urge 

 here, but that of all who have ever 



