43 



yellow cup. The latter is frequently eaten without ill effects, but 

 the seed is certainly poisonous. 



Yew wood, for many centuries, was used for making bows,, 

 which was our national weapon before the discovery of gun- 

 powder. A. Conan Doyle writes : — 

 " So men who are free 

 Love the old yew tree 



And the land where the yew tree grows." 

 The yew is an excellent evergreen tree for soils containing 

 lime. Besides solitary trees, there are also some forest areas 

 covered with yew. Possibly the largest of these in England is 

 on the downs west of Downton, Wilts, the property of the Earl 

 of Radnor. The yews here cover about eighty acres. There is. 

 also a large yew wood at Cherkley Court covering fifty or sixty 

 acres. 



In addition to forming excellent evergreen hedges, it bears 

 clipping exceptionally well, and is the principal tree used for 

 topiary work, i.e., training and clipping into formal and fantastic 

 shapes. The most remarkable examples of this work are at 

 Levens Castle in Westmoreland, and at Elvaston Castle in Derby- 

 shire. Some of these have been in existence for two hundred 

 years, and have been annually clipped ever since. At Bingham's 

 Melcombe, the residence of Mrs. Bosworth Smith, is a stupendous 

 yew hedge 20ft. high and 20ft. through. It is said to date from 

 the time of Henry VIII. 



The standard work on the " Yew Trees of Great Britain 

 and Ireland," by John Lowe, M.D., London, 1897, should be 

 consulted by those interested in yew literature. 



In estimating the age of yew trees, as pointed out by Dr. 

 Lowe, it must be) borne in mind that counting the rings of growth 

 is only possible in young trees. It is entirely erroneous in old 

 trees owing to the welding together of young shoots that takes 

 place outside, and sometimes inside, the original stem, giving the 

 tree a fictitious appearance of age. In such cases the yew is not 

 a single tree, but an aggregate of adventitious growths. 



In too manv instances it is assumed that the age of yews in 

 churchyards is coeval with that of the church. This may be a 

 plentiful source of error. A statement may be quite correct that 

 a yew tree once grew at a certain spot at a certain time, but it 

 does not necessarily follow that that original tree still occupies the 

 same spot. The average rate of growth of yews given by Dr. 

 Lowe is one foot of diameter in sixty or seventy years, both in 

 young and old trees. As a general statement this may be use- 

 fully borne in mind when estimating the age of yews. One of 

 the oldest yews in this neighbourhood is probably that in Brocken- 

 hurst Churchyard. This stands close to the decayed remains of 

 a fine old oak. Wise gave the circumference of this old oak 

 (about i860) as 22ft. Dr. Lowe gives the following brief account 

 of the yew: — " A fine tree in Brockenhurst Churchyard in the- 

 New Forest, Hants, in 1793, had a girth of 15ft., and was up- 



