YEW. 
together its sepulchral associations, and begin to 
_ be regarded as solely a cheerful and ornamental 
plant. It grows slowly, yet is capable of attain- 
ing a great size. A beautiful specimen of it, 
which so long as 35 years ago was 12 feet in 
girth, stands by the public road side at the mar- 
gin of the park of Rossdhu in Dumbartonshire ; 
a specimen of about 28 feet in girth formerly 
stood in the parish of Arrochar, not many miles 
from Rossdhu; and a specimen of the enormous 
girth of 52 feet grew in the church- yard of 
Fortingal, and still survives though in such 
a rent and separated state as to appear like two 
trees. The yew was carefully and extensively 
cultivated in the age of archery on account of 
the peculiar suitableness of its strong and elastic 
wood for making bows; and though now not 
wanted in that way, it might still make large 
and profitable contributions of its timber for 
vastly more useful purposes. It cannot indeed be 
raised so compensatingly in plantations as most 
other timber trees, on account of the excessive 
slowness of its growth; but it is admirably suited 
for growing as underwood, and might yield more 
profit in that capacity than almost any other 
plant. Its wood is hard and durable, and takes 
on a finer polish than any other kind of our in- 
digenous timber. ‘Besides the uses of it for 
boughs,” says Evelyn, “for which the close and 
more deeply dyed is the best, the artists in box, 
cabinet-makers and inlayers most gladly employ 
it; and in Germany, they used to wainscot their 
stoves with boards of it ; also for the cogs of mills; 
posts to be set in moist grounds, and everlasting 
axle-trees, there is none to be compared with it; 
likewise for the bodies of lutes, theorboes, bowls, 
wheels, and pins for pulleys, yea, and for tankards 
to drink out of.” “I have only to add in com- 
mendation of this tree,” says Gilpin, “that its 
veins exceed in beauty those of most other trees. 
Tables made of yew, when the grain is fine, are 
much superior to mahogany; and its roots vie 
in beauty with the ancient citron.” 
The foliage of the yew possesses a very perplex- 
ing reputation in reference to the domesticated 
animals; for in some instances, it seems to be 
indifferent to them, little eaten and seeming 
neither to help nor to hurt,—in others, it ap- 
pears to act as a virulent poison,—and in others, 
though under limited and cautious conditions, it 
serves well and long as food; and it probably 
owes this extraordinary discrepancy of character 
partly to the different circumstances of soil and 
situation in which it grows, and partly to the 
different conditions of maturity and succulency, 
or of season and vitality, in which it is eaten. 
One of the most noted instances of its innocuous- 
-ness has long occurred on Inchlonoch in Lochlo- 
mond. “That island,” says the General Report 
of Scotland, “is stated to contain about 2,000 
yew trees of very perfect growth, some of them 
being three feet in diameter. As for centuries 
past, this island has been used as a deer park, 
789 
and as both the deer and the forester’s cows de- 
vour the crops of the branches greedily during 
the winter storms, without any bad effects, the 
deleterious qualities of this tree have either been 
exaggerated, or their effects are diminished by 
use. ven the berries of the yew are greedily 
devoured by the field-fare and other birds.” Yet 
very many authentic instances are on record of 
assured poisonings by the yew-tree, which either 
have ended fatally or have required prompt medi- 
cal treatment; and all such cases, as well as the 
opposite ones of expressly and statedly using the 
foliage as fodder, may best be stated in the words 
of Youatt in his Treatise on Cattle. “The yew,” 
says he, “is probably the most destructive poi- 
son,’ more so, that is, than common hemlock, 
water hemlock, water-dropwort, wild parsnip, 
black henbane, and all similar plants, “ especially 
when a quantity of it is taken unmixed with 
other food. M. Husard, however, relates that, 
in Hanover and Hesse, the cattle are partly fed 
on the leaves of the yew. He examined the trees 
as they grew in the mountains of those countries, 
and he found them to be the true yew. In win- 
ter, and especially when fodder is more than usu- 
ally scarce, a portion of yew leaves and branches 
is mingled with the other food. The quantity of 
the yew is small at first, but it is gradually in- 
creased until it constitutes the greater part of 
the food; and it has the reputation of materially 
contributing to the fattening of the beast. The 
inhabitants of Hanover and Hesse are, neverthe- 
less, perfectly aware of the poisonous property of 
the leaves of this tree, and are sometimes taught, 
by dear experience, that it will destroy their cat- 
tle, unless it is managed with this degree of cau- 
tion. M. Husard adds, that on his return to 
France he determined to put this matter to the 
test, but he selected the horse instead of cattle 
as the subject of his experiment. He gave the 
yew mixed with oats in the proportion of half a 
pound of the former to a pound and a half of the 
latter, and the horse did not appear to be in the 
slightest degree inconvenienced by what he had 
eaten. This animal, however, was enfeebled and 
emaciated previous to the experiment; and it 
occurred to M. Husard that there might be a de- 
ficiency of sensibility in the stomach, and in the 
frame generally, and that, in consequence of this, 
the poison might not produce its fatal effects. 
He, therefore, selected a mare in good health and 
condition, as the subject of a second experiment. 
She ate the mingled yew and oats, and suffered 
no inconyenience. He selected another horse as 
the subject of a third and decisive experiment. 
He took seven ounces of the yew, and bruised 
and mixed it with twelve ounces of water, so as 
to make a kind of electuary, which he gave to a 
horse which had fasted four hours; an hour after- 
wards he fell and died. The British agricultu- 
rist will scarcely be tempted to make experi- 
ments like these, except in times of the greatest 
scarcity, and then he would act with all the cau- 
SS I I VO TE 
