THE GARDENS OF NEWPORT— IV. 



518 



beautiful, whether standing singly or in groups. 



There are other species among the yuccas equally 

 interesting and attractive that are also perfectly 

 hardy in this climate. The Y. angtistifolia has nar- 

 rower leaves, 18 to 25 inches long, channelled on 

 the upper side, sharp-pointed and margined with 

 light red. These are often produced in bunches of 

 100 or more. The flower stem is sometimes naked 

 to the height of three to five feet, and then crowned 

 with a raceme of 30 to 40 blossoms, each two to 

 two and a half inches long. These are greenish 

 white, and very effective in almost any situation. 



The sword-leaved yucca, Y.flexilis etisifoUa, has its 

 flowers slightly tinted with red on the outside, but 

 its chief point of distinction is in its foliage, the 

 leaves being two feet long, narrow, stiff, acutely 

 pointed and margined by a hard and almost horny 

 substance. A hedge of these plants would be im- 

 passable by man or beast, and, as the flower-cluster 

 is from three to four feet long, it would serve as an 

 ornament as well as a defence. There are many 

 other species and varieties of value as hardy orna- 

 mental plants, but none, to be preferred to these. 



The low, round-headed shrubs in this central 

 plot and the similar group on the opposite bank are 

 compact specimens of the old-fashioned box (buxus), 

 and of the yew family (taxus). They are nearly two 

 feet high and of about the same diameter, having been 

 so well cared for that they look like simple balls of 

 green leaves, scarcely a stem or branch being visible. 

 Of late the box has mostly gone out of use for 

 edgings and borders to garden walks, partly be- 

 cause of the introduction of new sorts, but more 

 especially from the fact that such stiff and angular 

 pathways are now seldom tolerated. But these 

 plants are still valuable in many positions. It may 

 not be universally known that there is one variety 

 of the box which produces leaves margined with 

 white, and another in which the foliage is tinted 

 with yellow. 



The yews are well-known plants, natives of Cen- 

 tral and northern Europe, northern Asia and North 

 America. They belong to the coniferas, and con- 

 stitute a genus of six or eight species and several 

 varieties adapted to cultivation. They are known 

 to botanists under the old Latin name taxus, which 

 was used by Pliny, Virgil and other ancient writers. 

 Some of them are especially adapted to cold climates 

 and inhospitable situations, growing well in Siberia. 

 " The yew," says an English authority, "is of geo- 

 logical antiquity ; it formed part of the forests of 

 Britain at a period long anterior to historic times. 

 It is found among the buried trees on the Norfolk 

 coast near Cromer. It also crops out in another 



forest now beneath the Bristol channel, in which, if 

 there be any truth in bones, the elephant, rhinoceros 

 and beaver roamed.'' Some of its specimens are 

 very large, one known as the "Derby yew" in 

 Derbyshire, England, having a trunk nearly 20 feet in 

 circumference, with a spread of branches covering 

 70 feet. The age of this tree is estimated at more 

 than 1,300 years. The trunk of the Crowhurst yew, 

 mentioned by Evelyn, was found to be more than 

 30 feet in circumference, when measured in 1876, 

 and it, too, is supposed to have seen more than a 

 thousand years. There are many other noted 

 specimens in England, but few or none of so great 

 size in America. 



The common or, as it is sometimes called, the 

 English yew, Taxus baccata, is more widely distri- 

 buted than any other, and by some it is held to be 

 the species from which all others have sprung. It 

 usually possesses a short trunk and a somewhat 

 spreading head, being quite variable in form, though 

 capable, in cultivation, of being brought to almost 

 any shape and kept within desired proportions. 

 The foliage is dark, giving the tree a rich and some- 

 what somber appearance. The leaves are small 

 but numerous, closely arranged along the branches, 

 linear, sharply pointed, glossy green above and 

 slightly paler beneath. This is the largest species 

 known, sometimes reaching 40 to 50 feet in height, 

 with a girth of trunk iG to 25 feet, though usually 

 much smaller. As some of the sorts are more or- 

 namental, this is not now much used in cultivation. 



The variety known as T. adpressa is of much 

 smaller proportions than the preceding, seldom 

 rising more than 10 or 12 feet. The leaves are ob- 

 long, somewhat rounded at each end, small on the 

 lesser branches, but larger and more sharply pointed 

 on the leaders. They are on short footstalks, flat, 

 somewhat divided, dark green above and much 

 lighter underneath. As the secondary branches 

 are very numerous, the little tree can easily be cut 

 into a low, round head, as is here shown. 



Doraston's yew, T. Dorastoiii, is one of the most 

 beautiful of plants. It differs from T. adpressa in 

 having longer branches, nearly horizontal at the 

 stem, but pendulous at the extremities. As the 

 branches are in whorls, the drooping ends make it 

 appear as an almost solid mass of foliage. But 

 what is still more interesting is the fact that the 

 dark green leaves when young are broadly margined 

 with golden yellow, but when older become bright 

 green, with margins of silvery white. The effect is 

 striking, and when the species becomes better known 

 it is sure to be a favorite among the ornamentals. 



The so called Irish yew, T.fastigiata, is of upright, 



