1865 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
845 
The American Yew, or Ground Hemlock. 
Tams baccata, var. Canadensis. 
The European Yew in its different varieties 
is well known to all lovers of Evergreens. In 
Europe it is one of the best 
known trees, remarkable for its 
longevity, and the value of its 
strong and elastic wood. Wo 
have in this country a Yew, 
which by some botanists has 
been considered a distinct spe¬ 
cies and called Taxus Ganad.en- 
sis, but which is now conceded 
to be only a remarkable variety 
of the European Taxus baccata. 
The American Yew is not rare 
in the Northern States, and 
along the Alleghanies it extends 
into the Southern States. It is 
foimd in woods as a low shrub, 
and from its resemblance in its 
foliage to the Hemlock-tree it is 
commonly called Ground-hem¬ 
lock. The trunk is prostrate 
upon the ground, or just below 
the surface, and the branches 
alone appear above the surface, 
which rise to the hight of only 
about two feet and form a mass 
of bright green foliage. The 
engraving shows a branch (of 
the natural size,) with leaves 
and berries. The barren and 
fertile flowers are usually borne 
on different plants, the fertile 
ones being remarkable for their 
simplicity of structure. In most 
plants we have a regular pistil 
which encloses the ovules, and 
after fertilization the pistil be¬ 
comes some kind of a fruit, 
while the ovules, which before 
were little green pulpy bodies, 
ripen into seeds. In the Pine- 
family generally—to which the 
Yew belongs—the undeveloped 
seeds, or ovules, are placed at 
the base of woody scales, which 
together form some kind of a 
cone and protect the ripening 
seeds. The ovules of the Yew 
are without even the protection 
of a scale, but are borne naked 
at the end of a small stem. 
After the ovule is fertilized it 
begins to grow, and, and as it 
increases in size, a little cup 
grows up around its base, and 
when the seed is still green it 
appears very much like a little 
acorn. By the time the seed is 
quite mature, this cup has grown 
so large as to quite enclose it, 
though it is not in contact with 
it, while the cup itself becomes 
soft and pulpy and takes on* a 
brilliant scarlet color. The partly grown fruit, as 
well as that which is mature, are shown in the en¬ 
graving, of the natural size, while at the right 
hand is given an enlarged fruit, cut through the 
cup and exposing the seed. The plant when in 
fruit is quite showy, the scarlet berries appearing 
in brilliant contrast to the green of the leaves. 
The American Yew is valuable as an ornamen¬ 
tal shrub, from the fact that it will grow readily 
beneath other trees. We do not find the plant 
in the catalogues of our principal nurseries, but 
presume that they would grow it if there was a 
demand for it. Like the European varieties, it 
may be raised from cuttings or from seeds. 
The seeds should be planted without being 
allowed to dry, when a portion will germinate 
Tim AMERICAN TEW. 
the first year, and the remainder the year after. 
While the berries of the yew are harmless and 
may be eaten, the leaves of the European trees 
are poisonous to human beings as well as herses 
and cattle, and it is probable that our variety 
has deleterious properties, but upon this point 
we have no positive information. The plant 
varies in this respect in diflferent parts of Europe, 
in some localities it being so harmless as to be 
fed to animals, and in others very poisonous, 
and the same may be the case with it here, 
Pruning the Grape Vine. 
When the leaves have fallen and the vine is 
at rest, it may be pruned. Those who have 
vineyards, have given thought lb the manner in 
( which they will treat them, and 
have fixed upon a system of 
training and pruning; such will 
not need any suggestions from 
us. But there are many who 
will this autumn cut a vine for 
the first time in their lives, and 
it will be interesting to such to 
know how to prune and why 
to do it at all. The manage¬ 
ment of a yoUng vine is a very 
simple matter, as also is that 
of an older one, which has been 
started in and kept to some par¬ 
ticular system. But the most 
common cases in which we are 
asked advice is, where a vine 
has been allowed to ramble 
about at will, and having be¬ 
come over-grown and filled with 
wood, out of all proportion to 
the amount of fruit it bears, the 
owner is desirous to know what 
to do with it. He knows that 
vines are benefited by pruning, 
and he would cut away at his 
_ if he only knew how to do it. 
In many cases it would be best 
to discard the old Vine alto¬ 
gether, and either graft it at the 
root, as described in another 
article, or dig it up and put in 
a better variety. If the vine is 
of a good sort, canes may be 
found which can be layered and 
thus young vines obtained; af¬ 
ter these are well established, 
the old one may be removed. 
Still there will be many instan¬ 
ces in which it may be desirable 
to retain an old vine as a screen, 
or for some other reason, and 
the possessor wishes to make 
the most of it. As each indU 
vidual vine will present pecu¬ 
liarities of its own, the best we 
can do to meet such cases is to 
give some general notions on 
pruning, and leave the reader to 
apply them as he best can to 
his own particular case. Many 
have not noticed that the fruit 
of the vine is always borne wpon 
the young icood, i. e. upon the 
shoot which pushes from the 
bud in spring. One who un¬ 
derstands this fact, will appre¬ 
ciate the necessity of pruning 
judiciously, as the buds which 
have been formed during the 
past summer are what he is to 
look to for his next year’s fruit.' 
Figure 1, next page, shows a young vine, or a 
branch of an old one ; the leaves have fallen, 
and we have at each joint of the stem, just 
above the scar left by each leaf, a bud. The 
upper and latest formed buds are the largest and 
most vigorous, and if a stem of this kind be al¬ 
lowed to take its own course next year, the 
upper buds will push first in spring, and getting 
the start of the lower ones, will keep the ad¬ 
vantage they have gained, so that at the end of 
the next year we will have a vine like fig. 2, 
