NURSERY AND PLANTING, 



133 



former of these trees we have more than once measured, and 

 found it to exceed fifty-seven feet in circumference, an increase 

 of about five feet since 1770 ; about which time it was mea- 

 sured by the Hon, Judge Bari'ington, and by him stated to 

 be fifty-two feet round. 



As an ornamental tree, the yew has considerable preten- 

 sions, and as such we find it generally admitted into the best 

 laid out pleasure-grounds. It makes excellent hedges, and it 

 appears to have been much more generally used for that pur- 

 pose formerly than now. " No plant," says Sang, " is better 

 adapted for underwood than the yew ; it will thrive under the 

 drip of other trees equally with the holly. A grove of yew- 

 trees, in a recluse coiner, would be a solemn passage to the 

 grounds of a place. As the cypress in the East, the yew in 

 Britain, has been appropriated to the decoration of sacred 

 ground from time immemorial : it is therefore a fit accompa- 

 niment to the temple and the mausoleum." Such appear to 

 have been the ideas of our forefathers, and hence we find 

 these trees in church-yards, and near places of worship, of a 

 vast size, and often in considerable numbers, even in parts of 

 the country where it is almost otherwise unknown. This cir- 

 cumstance has been often noticed, but never satisfactorily 

 accounted for ; some asserting that the branches of this tree, 

 used on Palm-Sunday, and other days, for the decoration of 

 churches, gave it a place near at hand; while others, with 

 less probability of truth, suppose the yew to have been planted 

 near churches to afford materials for cross-bows, should the 

 congregation be surprised by an enemy. The sombre appear- 

 ance of its dark green foliage may be supposed emblematical 

 of eternity, and, like the cypress of the ancients, has given 

 it a place near the resting-place of the dead. 



The yew ripens its berries, or seeds, annually with us in 

 October, when they should be gathered and deposited in the 

 rot-heap, mixed with sandy earth, and there left till the Sep- 

 tember or November following, when they should be sown in 

 beds of rich, well-broken mould, and should be allowed to 

 remain in the seed-bed for two years before they be planted 

 out into nursing-lines. Yews are also often increased by cut- 

 tings, and sometimes by layers. Cuttings of the young wood 



