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LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
Sylva, published in London in 1664, thus bursts out in 
eloquent praise of it : “ Above all natural greens which 
enrich our home-born store, there is none certainly to be 
compared to the Holly ; insomuch that I have often 
wondered at our curiosity after foreign plants and expen 
sive difficulties, to the neglect of the culture of this vulgar 
but incomparable tree, —whether we will propagate it for 
use and defence, or for sight and ornament. Is there 
under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the 
kind, than an impregnable hedge of one hundred and 
sixty-five feet in length, seven high, and five in diameter, 
which I can show in my poor gardens, at any time of the 
year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves ? The 
taller standards at orderly distances blushing with their 
natural coral. It mocks the rudest assaults of the weather, 
beasts, or hedge-breaker : — 
‘ Et ilium nemo impune lacessit.’ ” 
The Yew Tree. Taxus. 
Nat . Ord. Taxaceae. Lin. Syst. Monoecia, Monadelphia. 
The European Yew is a slow-growing, evergreen tree, 
which often, when full grown, measures forty feet in height, 
and a third more in the diameter of its branches. The 
foliage is flat, linear, and is placed in two rows, like that of 
the Hemlock tree, though much darker in color. The 
flowers are brown or greenish, and inconspicuous, but they 
are succeeded by beautiful scarlet berries, about half or 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which are open at 
the end, where a small nut or seed is deposited. These 
