FGREST-TREES. 191 



thing but cutting them clofe to the trunk will again reflore their 

 thicknefs and verdure. 



Th I s tree, when fliooting in fpring, or loaded with ber- 

 ries in autumn, is noxious to cattle, which therefore, at thefc 

 feafons, are to be kept from approaching them ; but our fpecies 

 is not the true Taxus, or Yew of the Ancients, to which they 

 afcribed fo many deadly qualities. Mr Evelyn, in his Silva, 

 mentions a tree of it growing in his time in the Medical Garden 

 at Pifa in Tufcany, of fo baneful a nature, that the gardeners 

 could not clip it for above half an hour at a time, from their 

 heads aching exceflively. The leaves of this tree are defcribed to 

 be more like the Fir than our Yew, and this account of it is 

 given by Do(5lor Belluceus, Prefident of thefe gardens. I acknow- 

 ledge the emiffions of our Yew, when clip'd, to be no regale, 

 but luckily it has not the malignant effecSls of the Tufcan. 



This tree grows to a large fize, is hardy in refpe^l of cold, 

 and will fucceed in the moft barren and mountainous fitu- 

 ations, where the greateft florms will make no impreffion on it. 

 Since the ufe of bows has been laid afide, the wood is in lefs efti- 

 mation than formerly ; but it ftill gives a high price for the ca- 

 binet-maker. Pofts of it put in moift ground, will continue 

 found for ages, and for axle-trees no wood is fo ftrong and laft- 

 ing ; to which I fhall only add one very material quality more, 

 though not related by any writer fo far as I know, and which 

 is, that the wooden parts of a bed made of Yew, will mofl cer- 

 tainly not be approached by bugs. This is a truth, confirmed 

 to me by the experience of trees I had cut down and ufed my- 

 - felf in that way. 



