Upright Japanese Yew 












































(Taxus cuspidata capitata) 
HE normal habit of the Upright Japanese 
Yew is a pyramidal form, broad at the base 
and tapering to the top of the tree. A com- 
mon tendency is for trees to grow with several 
stems, and while this produces a rather bushy 
thick growth, it is best to cut them back to one 
stem, especially where trees are to be developed 
into specimens of large size, such as the five to 
six-foot tree shown in the picture below. 
The Japanese Yew isarapidly growing tree. The 
annual growth of the particular specimen in the 
planting pictured below was measured for three 
years. It is common to find branches with as 
much as twenty-four inches of new growth each 
year. 
Unless some attention is given to pruning, the 
growth will be open, with a definite space be- 
tween the layers of branches and the whole tree 
will be rather loose and perhaps irregular in out- 
line. In good growing years trees will require cut- 
ting back at least twice during the summer. 
A number of horticultural variations have been 
selected from this seedling type, some of them of 
unusual outstanding character. Nurserymen 
sometimes grow this Yew from cuttings, selecting 
the tips of the upper branches for growing into 
Upright trees, and using the tips of the side 
branches for growing into the Spreading types. 
All Yews are heavy feeders and respond in gen- 
eral vitality and rapidity of growth to fertilizer. 
In the Hill Nursery we have made it a practice to 
pile cattle manure between the rows as much as a 
foot deep, and by this method we are able to pro- 
duce trees of strong vigorous growth in much less 
time. The Yews are trees which require a fair 
amount of moisture and favorable soil condition 
for best development. 
Below—Upright and Spreading forms of the Jap- 
anese Yew on the north side of a building 

Right—Foliage of Japanese Yew (1/2 natural size) 
al 
