THE YEW. 



315 



probability was in a flourishing state at the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era, may yet survive 

 for centuries to come. In Strutt's Sylva Bri- 

 tannica " there is an admirable figure of the For- 

 tingal Yew, of which the accompanying woodcut 

 is a copy. 



The Ribbesford Yew is remarkable rather for 

 the singular nursery in which it chose to establish 

 itself than for great size. The seed from which 

 this tree sprung, must have been dropped, pro- 

 bably by a bird, on the summit of a Pollard Oak, 

 seventeen feet in circumference. As the Oak 

 decayed, the roots of the Yew gradually penetrated 

 downwards until they reached the ground, and 

 being eventually converted into stem filled up 

 the whole cavity of the trunk. Previously to the 

 year 1845, both the Yew and the Oak had nu- 

 merous spreading branches, which mixed their 

 foliage in a very pleasing manner. A writer in the 

 Analyst" stated his opinion, that it would in a 

 few years increase to such a size as to burst asun- 

 the oaken shell which enclosed it and ultimately 

 stand alone, as if it had sprung up from the 

 ground. In the year above mentioned the event 

 which had been anticipated, took place, for I am 

 informed by the Rev. E. W. Ingram that a violent 

 hurricane in July divested the Yew of the sur- 

 rounding Oak, and that no vestiges of its foster 

 parent now remain. 



Several instances are on record of old Yews 

 being renewed by a singular natural process. 

 When the upper part of a trunk begins to decay, 

 the crumbling wood forms a rich soil, into which 

 a young shoot from a neighbouring bough sends 

 a root. The young branch thus nourished inde- 



