The Yew. 



but it seems^ from the frequency of our finding it on such 

 land^ to have been formerly, at any rate, grown principally 

 upon chalky land. It resists all weather, stands uninjured 

 on the bleakest of hills, where even the scrubbiest of thorns 

 and underwood will hardly live. Big as the head of this 

 tree generally is in proportion to its trunk, most heavily 

 laden as it constantly is with leaf; forming as it does, such 

 a hold for the wind, neither head nor trunk ever flinches, 

 though in situations where it would be impossible to make 

 an Oak grow, and where no other large tree could be pre- 

 vented from being blown out of the ground. 



597. The Yew is, or rather has been (for it is not much 

 the fashion now), used for making hedges, as screens in 

 and near gardens and round about houses, for which pur- 

 pose it is the best material that can possibly be conceived. 

 It is easily clipped into any form ; its twigs are delicate and 

 tough ; it can be shaved close down to the ground; and it 

 makes a fence or screen through which no wind can find 

 its way ; and being ever-green, it is very valuable on this 

 account. People had more patience and diligence formerly 

 than they have now ; and, therefore, I have never heard of 

 the planting of a Yew hedge in the whole course of my life. 

 There are many, however, still remaining in England, but 

 these have all descended to us from our ancestors, who 

 lived in those dark ages, when men were foolish enough 

 to think that patience ought to be required in the acqui- 

 sition of things of great value, and that large estates ought 

 not to be acquired in a few years by merely " watching the 

 turn of the market/' There is a hedge of this sort at 

 Petworth, in Sussex, which, if I recollect rightly, 1 judged 

 to be eleven feet wide, kept very closely and neatly clipped 

 all across the top, and on the sides, from the top to the bot- 

 tom. The bottom on one side of the hedge meets the top 

 of a wall which supports a bank against a road or street. I 



