THE JAPANESE YEWS 
O FAMILY of Evergreens has created such interest in recent 
times as the Yews. A few years ago they were scarcely known, 
except in a limited way. They are now by far the most im- 
portant item of Evergreens in the Hill Nursery, from the standpoint 
of popular interest and demand. 
This great interest in Yews is easily accounted for. The reason lies 
in the outstanding merit of the tree in richness of color, which is main- 
tained at all seasons; the variation of form, the ease of training and 
pruning, the thriftiness of growth and the adaptability to various soils 
and planting locations. While other Evergreens almost without excep- 
tion require sun the majority of the time for thrifty growth, the Yews, 
on the other hand, are thoroughly at home in partial or even dense shade 
and will grow luxuriantly on the north side of buildings, and under the 
shade of other trees, maintaining their waxy, deep blackish green color. 
The location in which the trees grow also has considerable bearing on 
the character of the foliage. Persons are often misled as to the identity 
of some Yews because the foliage grows differently in shady locations 




May? 
Intermedia Yew 
Japanese Yew makes an ideal hedge and may be grown as a real dwarf hedge, or medium 
or tall form. Any of the various forms illustrated on this 
25 
page can be easily trimmed into a hedge. 
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a PE ys. 
Dwarf Japanese Yew 
Another highly prized feature of the Yews is their scarlet berries, 
which frequently are borne in great abundance. The berry is a cup 
shaped fruit, hollow on the bottom, inclosing a single seed with soft 
pulpy covering of bright red color. Unlike other families of Evergreens, 
the Yews produce the male flowers on one tree and the female flowers on 
another tree, so that the trees must be planted in groups with other 
Yews nearby in order to produce berries. 
For convenience, we can divide the Japanese Yews into three divi- 
sions according to growing habit. We have the narrow pyramidal 
growing trees, the broad pyramids, and the bushy or spreading types. 
They are all trees of small or medium growth. The difference between 
the various sorts is in most cases a slight variation in growing habit or 
texture of foliage or color. We have illustrated on this page seven 
named varieties of Yews, which we consider among the outstanding 
forms and which we intend to propagate extensively in the future. 
The Yew is a most variable tree when grown from seed and this has, 
of course, resulted in innumerable forms which have been selected by 
nurserymen and others as being worthy of propagation. This has 
brought on a great amount of confusion and some duplication of trees 
of similar types under different names. In the Hill Nursery we have a 
number of additional varieties of Yews which we are growing, some of 
which give promise for the future, others which we have discarded. 
In the following pages we have illustrated and described the varieties 
briefly sketched on this page. 




Hick’s Yew 
Yew Foliage 
