2080

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

it 52 ft. in circumference ; and, some years afterwards, by Mr. Pennant, whenthe circumference had increased to 56 ft. 6 in. Dr. Neill visited the tree in July,1833; and a notice of it by him will be found in the Edinburgh Philo-sophical Journal for that year, from which we make the following extract;premising that, when Daines Barrington measured the tree, he found one sideof the trunk a mere shell of bark, all the interior having decayed. “ Con-siderable spoliations,” Dr. Neill observes, “ have evidently been committedon the tree since 1769; large arms have been removed, and masses of thetrunk itself carried off by the country people, with the view of forming qtiechs,or drinking-cups, and other relics, which visitors were in the habit of pur-chasing. What still exists of the trunk now (1833) presents the appearanceof a semicircular wall, exclusive of the remains of some decayed portions ofit, which scarcely rise above the ground. Great quantities of new spray haveissued from the firmer parts of the bark, and a few young branches spring up-wards to the height, perhaps, of 30 ft. The side of the trunk now existinggives a diameter of more than 15 ft., so that it is easy to conceive that thecircumference of the bole, when entire, should have exceeded 50 ft. Happily,further depredations have been prevented by means of an iron rail, which nowsurrounds the sacred spot; and this venerable yew, which, in all probability,was a flourishing tree at the commencement of the Christian era, may yetsurvive for centuries to come.”

The Loch Lomond Yew. According to Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, a yew inthe Island of Inch Lonach, or what is commonly called the Yew Tree Island,in Loch Lomond, measured on the 3d of August, 1770, was 10 ft. 7 in. incircumference. This tree was about 40 ft. high; but another tree, which wasthe largest in the island, though not so tall, measured 13 ft. in girt. It isuncertain whether these trees were sacrificed among the 300 yew trees whichwere cut on this spot. There has been, for many years, a herd of deer in theYew Tree Island, which has prevented young trees from rising from the seed;but many of those which have begun to decay have sent up shoots fromtheir roots, close to the old trunk. After a time, a number of these shootscoalesce, and form at last a complete new trunk, at the side of which the oldone continues to decay. In this way the tree conies to be regenerated fromthe root.

The Bernera Yew. According to the same authority, in the Island ofBernera, adjacent to the Sound of Mull, the late Sir Duncan Campbell cutdown a yew of vast size. Its precise dimensions were not preserved, but thetimber of it deeply loaded a highland 6-oared boat, and was sufficient to forma large elegant staircase in the house of Lochnell, which was afterwardsdestroyed when the house was burned down. {Laud. Gilp.')

The Ormiston Yew. One of the most beautiful yew trees in Scotland isthat growing in the garden at Ormiston Hall, a seat of the Earl of Hopetoun,in Haddingtonshire. It throws out its vast limbs horizontally in all directions,supporting a large and luxuriant head, which now (1834) covers an area ofground of 58 ft. in diameter, with a most impenetrable shade. Above theroots it measures 12 ft. 9 in. in girt; at 3 ft. up, it measures 13 ft. 6 in.; at4 ft. up, it measures 14ft. 9in.; and at 5 ft. up, it measures 17 ft. 8 in. It isin full health and vigour. {Ibid., i. p. 279.)

In Ireland, the yew tree, as already observed, can scarcely be considered asto be found any where now in a wild state; though, as we have seen, p. 106.,trunks of very large yew trees have occasionally been dug out of bogs.

The Mucruss Abbey Yew stands in the centre of a cloistered court, now inruins, and is supposed to be coeval with the abbey. As the abbey was in ex-istence, and celebrated as a sanctuary,-in the year 1180, the tree must be up-wards of 700 years old. Arthur'Young saw it about 1780, arid'states it to be,without exception, the most prodigious yew tree he ever beheld. Its trunk, hesays, is 2 ft. in diameter at 14 ft. high, whence a vast head of branches spreadson every side, so as to form a perfect canopy to the whole space. (Tour inIreland, 1780, i. p. 443.) Percival Hunter informs us (writing in 1836) that