12 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, . 
January  3,  1901. 
Tlje  Old  Century — Tlje  New. 
The  truly  wonderful  nineteenth  century,  with  all  its  changes* 
progress,  fierce  conflicts,  commercial  enterprise,  and  educational 
advance,  has  at  last  run  its  course,  and  will  doubtless  in  the  future  be 
“writ  large”  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  Centuries,  however, 
may  pass  away,  but  the  interest  in  gardening — the  most  ancient  of  all 
arts — still  remains  to  brighten  up  the  lives  of  all  classes  in  their 
onward  struggles  through  the  turmoil  of  life. 
But  although  the  gardening  instinct  remains,  it  has  been  pursued 
under  widely  different  circumstances  during  the  progress  of  the  “  dead 
century.’’  Cheap  glass  and  improved  methods  of  heating  have, 
perhaps,  done  more  than  anything  else  to  revolutionise  and  popularise 
horticulture.  In  the  early  part  of  the  century — as  far  as  we  cm 
gather  from  old  books — gardening  consisted  principally  of  gi  owing 
vegetables  and  fruits  in  the  open  air,  keeping  lawns  and  walks  trim 
in  appearance,  forcing  vegetables  with  heat  generated  by  fermenting 
materials,  and  struggling  hard  to  grow  good  plants  and  fruit3  in  houses 
having  much  woodwork,  small  squares  of  glass,  and  brick  flues  as  a 
medium  of  supplying  heat.  Class  structures  were  then  appendages 
which  only  important  gardens  possessed.  In  those  days  much  labour 
was  undoubtedly  spent  on  gardening  in  the  open  air,  but  labour  was 
cheap,  and  horticulture  was  certainly  not  an  expensive  hobby.  The 
discovery  of  a  suitable  method  of  heating  by  hot  water  soon  had 
the  effect  of  stimulating  the  erection  of  glass  bouses,  for  up  to  that 
time,  notwithstanding  the  dearness  of  glass  and  clumsy  methods  of 
building,  the  heating  'problem  was  undoubtedly  the  difficulty  which 
prevented  the  erection  of  houses  on  a  large  scale.  When  this  problem 
was  solved  the  culture  of  tropical  plants  rapidly  extended,  as  the  great 
difficulty  of  preserving  them  throughout  the  winter  became  a  thing 
of  the  past. 
Good  Times  and  Bad  Times. 
Times  were  prosperous  for  the  great  landowners  in  those  far  off 
days.  They  lavished  their  wealth  upon  their  gardens,  princely  places 
sprang  up  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  the  gardens  were  looked 
upon  as  a  means  of  interesting  guests,  as  well  as  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  the  mansion  with  flowers,  fruits,  and  vegetables  throughout 
the  year.  With  the  increase  of  glass  bouses  the  system  of  employing 
greenhouse  plants  to  brighten  up  the  flower  garden  in  summer 
gradually  found  favour,  and  was  soon  carried  to  such  extremes  that  a 
reaction  set  in.  In  the  meantime,  although  glass  had  been  so  largely 
used,  improved  methods  of  manufacture  quickly  cheapened  it,  and  the 
commercial  instinct  ot  a  few  shrewd  Britons  saw  that  it  could  be  turned 
to  advantage.  The  advent  of  the  market  grower  had  a  quickening 
influence  on  private  gardeners  and  nurserymen  who  had  hitherto  been 
the  only  producers. of  choice  plants  and  crops  grown  under  glass.  The 
time  soon  came  when  the  professional  man  and  tradesman  could  buy 
in  the  markets  a  type  of  produce  which  could  previously  be  obtained 
only  by  the  wealthy.  Bad  times  began  to  affect  the  landowners ; 
labour  and  other  expenses  in  gardens  had  to  be  cut  down  to  the  lowest 
point,  and  many  grand  old  gardens  became  regarded  simply  as  so 
much  space  from  which  to  extract  as  much  produce  as  possible  for 
the  supply  of  the  mansion,  and  the  markets — their  glory  then  departed. 
A  Brighter  Picture. 
But  there  is  a  brighter  side  to  the  picture.  Although  many  large 
old  gardens  fell  from  their  high  estate,  great  numbers  of  smaller  ones 
were  springing  up  all  over  the  country.  The  successful  merchant 
having  an  inclination  for  the  “grand  old  art,”  formed  his  garden  on 
commercial  lines,  not  too  large  to  make  a  great  show  for  a  time, 
and  then  find  its  maintenance  beyond  the  scope  of  the  purse.  The 
tradesman,  the  artisan,  and  even  the  labourer  in  many  instances 
have  their  glass  houses  to-day,  and  good  use  they  make  of  them 
too ;  thus  we  find  that  although  in  some  respects  gardening  has 
suffered  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  it  has  advanced  greatly 
in  others,  and  the  volume  of  good  gardening  to  be  seen  in  Britain 
to-day  is  greater  than  at  any  other  period  of  its  history.  It  is  also 
pleasant  to  record  the  fact  that  whole  pages  of  the  Journal  of 
Horticulture  might  be  filled  with  the  marvellous  progress  made  in 
some  directions  in  the  horticultural  world,  but  I  have  only  attempted 
to  deal  briefly  with  the  evolution  which  has  been  brought  about  in 
some  respects. 
The  work  of  the  future  lies  before  us,  and  in  the  opening  year  of 
this  new  century  let  us  all  press  onward  in  the  mighty  work  of 
advancing  a  still  further  stage  the  progress  of  an  art  in  which  there 
can  be  no  finality.  The  difficulties  of  the  future  may  perchance 
loom  up  as  a  mountain  before  us,  but  persistent  endeavour,  like  the 
trickling  water,  will  wear  away  the  hardest  rocks  ;  and  who  can 
tell  what  new  forces  may  be  brought  to  our  aid  by  the  light  of 
scientific  research,  or  how  great  may  be  the  prosperity  of  the  century 
on  whose  threshold  we  have  just  entered  ? — Onward. 
Tlie  Yew. 
In  our  issue  of  December  13th  last,  when  speaking  of  “The 
Manual  of  Conifer®,”*  we  had  occasion  to  comment  upon  the 
especial  excellence  of  the  historical  notes.  OwiDg  to  the  kindness  oS 
Messrs.  James  Yeitch  &  Sons,  we  are  now  in  a  positi  >n  to  reproduce 
the  following  interesting  article  upon  the  Yew,  together  with  the  two 
accompany ing  curious  illustrations. 
A  Native  Tree. 
The  Yew  in  one  or  other  of  its  numerous  protean  forms  is  seen 
everywhere  throughout  Great  Britain,  but  almost  everywhere  planted 
by  the  hand  of  man,  so  numerous  and  so  useful  are  the  pumoees  for 
which  it  is  required.  The  Yew  also  grows  wild  in  this  country,  as 
everyone  knows,  and  trees  that  have  sprung  up  spontaneously  are  to  be 
seen  in  most  of  the  hilly  districts,  and  also  in  the  copses  and  hedgerows 
in  the  plains,  especially  on  the  chalk  formation,  but  they  are  relatively 
few  in  number  not  only  to  what  they  were  in  Saxon  and  Norman  times, 
but  also  to  those  that  have  been  raised  and  planted  by  human  agency  ; 
indeed,  it  is  not  exceeding  the  truth  to  affirm  that  for  every  hundred 
seedling  Yews  that  spring  up  spontaneously,  many  thousands  are  raised 
by  the  forester  and  nurseryman.  Many  causes  have  contributed  to  the 
extermination  of  the  Yew  in  the  wild  state,  amongst  which  the  clearing 
of  the  land  for  cultivation  and  the  long  and  continuous  demand  for  the 
wood  for  Yew  bows  and  the  better  kinds  of  household  furniture  have 
been  the  most  potential.  On  the  chalk  downs  of  Surrey  and  Sussex, 
where  the  Yew  occurs  wild  in  considerable  numbers,  it  is  sometimes  seen 
solitary,  forming  a  conspicuous  object  from  afar  ;  occasionally  it  occurs  in 
scattered  groups,  in  places  forming  small  groves  unmixed  with  other  trees. 
A  Sacred  Tree. 
The  association  of  the  Yew  with  religion  and  places  of  worship  is 
of  very  ancient  date.  Yew  boughs  were  formerly  carried  in  procession 
on  Palm  Sunday,  and  in  parts  of  Ireland  Yew  trees  are  sometimes 
called  Palms;  it  is  still  the  custom  for  the  peasants  to  wear  in  their 
hats  or  buttonholes  sprays  of  Yew  from  Palm  Sunday  until  Easter 
Day.  Many  hypotheses  have  been  brought  forward  explanatory  of  the 
cause  of  the  selection  of  this  tree  for  planting  in  proximity  to  churches 
and  abbeys,  or,  perhaps,  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say,  the  building  of 
churches  and  abbeys  in  proximity  to  large  and  full  grown  Yews ;  for  it 
is  indisputable  that  the  finest  and  most  venerable  trees  at  present 
existing  in  Britain  are  to  be  found  in  churchyards  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
old  priories  and  abbeys,  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  whether  in  all 
cases,  or  even  in  the  majority  of  them,  the  Yews  were  planted 
subsequent  to  the  building  of  the  edifice,  or  the  edifice  erected  near  the 
spot  where  the  Yews  were  already  standing.  The  true  cause  of  the 
association,  in  this  country  at  least,  is  not,  we  think,  difficult  to  be 
found — this  is  in  the  character  and  habit  of  the  tree  itself.  There  is  no 
other  native  evergreen  tree  at  all  to  be  compared  with  the  Yew  as  regards 
its  foliage,  its  massive  sombre  aspeot,  and  its  longevity,  and  hence  the 
Yew  would  be  naturally  selected  to  represent  the  feelings,  the 
sentiments,  and  the  hopes  associated  with  burial  grounds  and  in 
connection  with  places  of  worship  where  sentiments  and  feelings  are 
most  likely  to  seek  expression  by  visible  representatives  or  enduring 
monuments.  The  feeling  of  Hope  lives  in  its  evergreen  foliage  ;  Sorrow 
is  remembered  in  its  dark  and  sombre  shade,  and  Veneration  is 
awakened  in  its  aged  aspect.  It  may  be  safely  assumed  from  the  known 
antiquity  of  many  Yews  still  ■  standing  in  churchyards  and  the  like 
places,  that  the  association  of  the  Yew  with  religion  must  be  of  very 
ancient  origin  ;  and  the  probability  is  very  great  that  it  took  its  rise  at 
an  epoch  anterior  to  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Britain. 
The  Yew  in  War. 
In  a  much  wider  bearing  the  Yew  played  a  prominent  part  in 
our  early  history  as  supplying  the  wood  of  which  the  bows  of  the 
archers  were  made,  and  on  that  account  it  was  the  subject  of  many 
statutes  of  our  early  kings,  and  afterwards  of  Parliament  up  to  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  which  made  provision  for  the  preservation  and 
planting  of  Yews  for  the  supply  of  Yew-wood,  regulating  the  export 
and  import  of  it,  &c.,  so  great  had  been  the  destruction  of  the  trees  in 
England  during  Norman  and  Plantagenet  times.  Every  student  of 
English  history  can  point  to  great  events  in  which  the  Yew  bow  played 
a  foremost  part.  It  was  essentially  the  Saxon  weapon  both  for  warfare 
and  the  chase  ;  and  during  the  early  part  of  the  Norman  supremacy 
was  often  used  with  deadly  effect  by  the  oppressed  natives  to  rid 
themselves  of  their  tyrannical  masters.  Deeds  of  daring  were 
performed,  attesting  the  extraordinary  prowess  and  skill  of  the  Saxon 
archers  ;  deeds  that  were  long  kept  in  remembrance  by  tradition, 
celebrated  in  song  and  verse,  or  preserved  in  legends  which  afterwards 
supplied  subjects  for  modern  romance.  The  Yew  bow  was  fatal  to 
several  English  kings,  to  Harold  at  Hastings,  to  William  Rufus  in  the  New 
Forest,  and  to  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  at  Chaloux,  in  France.  It  was 
the  skill  of  the  English  archers  that  enabled  Henry  II.  to  gain  a 
*  “  Veitch’s  Manual  of  Conifer®, ”  published  by  Messrs.  James  Yeitch 
and  Sons,  Royal  Exotic  Nursery,  Ring’s  Road,  Chelsea,  London. 
