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The Garden Magazine, January, 1920 



canadensis) common in swampy woods and thickets from 

 Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through Canada to the 

 northern shores of Lake Superior and to Lake Winnipeg, 

 and southward to Minnesota in the west and New Jersey 

 in the east; the Western Yew (T. brevifolia) widespread 

 but not common from the Rocky Mts. in Montana to the 

 Pacific between Queen Charlotte Island in the north to 

 the Bay of Monterey in California, ascending to 4,000 feet 

 altitude on the Selkirk Mts. in British Columbia, and on the 

 western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to 8,000 feet altitude; 

 the Mexican Yew (T. globosa) a little-known species which 

 grows on the mountains of southern Mexico; and the Florida 

 Yew (T. floridana) native of a restricted area extending some 

 thirty miles along the eastern bank of the Appalachicola 

 River in western Florida. 



In Asia grow four species — the Japanese Yew (T. cus- 

 pidata) which is found from Japanese Saghalien southward 

 through Hokkaido, Hondo, and Shikoku of Japan proper, 

 and on the mainland from the Amur Valley south to the ex- 

 treme limits of Korea; the Chinese Yew (T. chinensis) scat- 

 tered through central and western China and also on the 

 mountains of Formosa; the Himalayan Yew (T. Wallichiana) . 

 which is found between 6,000 and 1 1 ,000 feet altitude on the 

 Himalayas from Afghanistan and Kashmir to Assam on the 

 Khasia Hills, and through Upper Burmah and Malaya to 

 Sumatra and the Philippine Islands; the European Yew (T. 

 baccata) which grows on the Cilician Taurus in Asia Minor, 

 in Armenia, the Caucasus and northern Persia. 



In Europe this last species is more or less common in all 

 mountainous and hilly districts, from Lat. 63 10' N. 

 in Sweden and Norway, in Esthonia, and through 

 Great Britain from Aberdeen in Scotland, and Donegal in 

 Ireland south to the Mediterranean. Also it grows in North 

 Africa and on the Atlas Mountains in Algeria. 



The Mexican and Florida Yews have never been intro- 

 duced into cultivation, and, as far as I can discover, this is also 

 true of the Himalayan Yew. The Canadian Yew is grown 

 to some extent in New England gardens, but in the open it 

 browns badly in winter and has little value except as a ground 

 cover in shady, moist places. It is said to have been intro- 

 duced into England in 1800 but has never obtained a place 

 in English gardens. The Western Yew is not cultivated in 

 eastern North America, and 1 do not know that it is on the 

 Pacific slope. It was sent to England by William Lobb in 

 1854, but is still a very rare plant in gardens. The Chinese 

 Yew was introduced by myself to the Arnold Arboretum in 

 1908 and has been distributed, but in New England it is 

 tender and of no value for gardens. In California it will 

 probably thrive and be a useful ornamental tree. The same 

 remark holds good for favored areas in the British Isles. 



Although the English Yew is not common in America, 

 there are fine specimens of it in Virginia where it must have 

 been introduced early in the 18th century, if not before and 

 in California around San Francisco it is a sucesss. At Had- 

 donfield, New Jersey, grow two famous English Yew trees 

 which were planted in 1713 by Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, 

 a Quakeress, whose history is partly given in Longfellow's 

 . poem " Elizabeth." The circumference of each tree is about 

 12^ feet. These have suffered greatly from winter storms. 

 Around Philadelphia and Baltimore, on Long Island, and 

 around New York and up the Hudson River there are large 



old specimens of the English Yew, but they brown badly 

 in severe winters while in New England this happens nearly 

 every year. Hence this Yew— except a variety of which 

 mention will be made later — cannot be recommended for 

 Northern gardens. 



In Great Britain and Ireland only the common Yew and its 

 numerous varieties are grown, but in this country this and 

 the Chinese Yew — at its best a fine tree 50 feet tall and 1 5 

 feet in girth of trunk, with large spreading branches — and the 

 Japanese Yew are also available; and for gardens north of 

 Washington the latter is the Yew par excellence. 



The Japanese Yew was introduced into America in 1862 

 by Dr. G. Hall who gave it to Parsons & Co., nurserymen, of 

 Flushing, N. Y. It appears to have made slow headway for 

 many years, but it is now becoming well known and its 

 merit, as the hardiest of all Yews, properly appreciated. It 

 came through the 191 7-18 winter unscathed in the Arnold 

 Arboretum and is known to be hardy as far north as central 

 New Hampshire and in Minneapolis, Minn. On Long Island 

 there are a number of fine specimens, also in the Hunnewell 

 Pinetum, Wellesley, Mass., and in the Arnold Arboretum. 

 But undoubtedly the largest by far in America is on the 

 estate of the late Dr. George Hall, Bristol, Rhode Island — 

 a tree 22 feet high and 120 feet round but unfortunately in 

 poor health. 



In Japan Taxus cuspidata is found scattered through woods 

 and over the countryside from the south to the extreme 

 north, but is nowhere common. I saw more of it in Hokkaido 

 than anywhere else but even there it is now rare. Its wood 

 is useful for a variety of purposes and lasts especially well 

 underground. Of late it has been used in Japan as pencil 

 wood. On the central slopes of the Diamond Mountains 

 in central Korea grow more trees and finer specimens than 

 I have seen elsewhere. Scattered through woods of Spruce, 

 Fir, and Oak, Birch and other broad-leaf trees are hundreds 

 of specimen Yews — from 40 to 60 feet tall, 6-10 feet in girth, 

 with large spreading branches forming handsome crowns. 

 And on the Korean island of Quelpaert in pure woods of 

 Hornbeam I found the Japanese Yew in bush form to be a 

 common undergrowth. In Japanese gardens it is a favorite 

 as a low; clipped bush and it is also used as a hedge plant, 

 but not extensively. It was one of these garden forms 

 (nana) that was first introduced to this country, and this 

 has been propagated largely by cuttings. It is a low, wide- 

 spreading shrub with short leaves. There is another form 

 (densa) which is also a low, compact shrub — but when seed- 

 lings from these dwarf forms are raised they revert to the tree 

 type. 



The first tree forms of this Yew raised in this country were 

 from seeds collected in Japan in 1892, by Professor Sargent 

 and the tallest of these in the Arnold Arboretum is now 8 feet. 

 Quite recently an erect form (Hicksii) has appeared in the 

 Hicks Nurseries, Westbury, Long Island, N. Y. As 

 time goes on and the Japanese Yew is freely raised from 

 seeds, other forms will arise; and there is little doubt that it 

 will ultimately produce as great a variety as the English 

 Yew has done. This is a matter that our nurserymen should 

 pay attention to. 



The principal varieties of the English Yew are about a 

 dozen in number and of these the Irish or Florence Court 

 Yew (var. fastigiata) is perhaps the most strikingly distinct 



