CHAP. CXI1.

TAXA'CEiE. Ta'xUS.

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of a priest in Yorkshire, who, having murdered a virgin who refused to listento his addresses, cut off her head, and hid it in a yew tree. The tree fromthenceforth became holy, and people made pilgrimages to visit it, pluckingand bearing away branches of it, believing that the small veins and filaments,resembling hairs, which they found between the bark and wood of the tree,were the hairs of the virgin. Hence, the name of the village, which was thencalled Houton, was changed to Halifax, which signifies holy hair; and thewealth brought by the pilgrims enabled the inhabitants to build on its sitethe now famous town of that name.

Properties and Uses. In a wild state, the yew affords food to birds by itsberries; and an excellent shelter to them during severe weather, and at night,by its dense evergreen foliage, but no insects live on it. By man, the treehas been applied to various uses, both in a living state, and when felled andemployed as timber. The wood is hard, compact, of a fine and close grain,flexible, elastic, splitting readily, and incorruptible. It is of a fine orangered, or deep brown; and the sap wood, which does not extend to a greatdepth, is white, and also very hard. Where the two woods join, there aregenerally different shades of red, brown, and white: both woods are suscepti-ble of a very high polish. Varennes de Fenilles states that the wood, beforeit has been seasoned, when cut into thin veneers, and immersed some monthsin pond water, will take a purple violet colour; probably owing to the pre-sence of alkali in the water. According to this author, the wood of the yewweighs, when green, 80 lb. 9 oz. per cubic foot; and, when dry, 61 lb. 7 oz.It requires a longer time to become perfectly dry than any other wood what-ever; and it shrinks so little in drying, as not to lose above ^ part ofits bulk. The fineness of its grain is owing to the thinness of its annuallayers, 280 of these being sometimes found in a piece not more than 20 in.in diameter. It is universally allowed to be the finest European wood forcabinet-making purposes. Tables made of yew, when the grain is fine, ac-cording to Gilpin, are more beautiful than tables of mahogany; and thecolour of its root is said to vie with the ancient citron. It is generally em-ployed in the form of veneer,s, and for inlaid work; it is also used by theturner, and made into vases, snuff-boxes, musical instruments, and a greatvariety of similar articles. Both the root and trunk furnish, at their rami-fications, pieces of wood beautifully veined and marbled, which are highlyprized. The sap wood, though of as pure a white as the wood of the holly,is easily dyed of a jet black, when it has the appearance of ebony. Where itis found in sufficient quantities to be employed for works under ground, suchas water-pipes, pumps, piles, &c., the yew will last longer than any otherwood. “ Where your paling is most exposed either to wind or springs,”says Gilpin, “ strengthen it with a post of old yew. That hardy veteran fearsneither storms above, nor damps below. It is a common saying among theinhabitants of New Forest, that a post of yew will outlast a post of iron.”Evelyn mentions the yew trees at Box Hill as both numerous and large.Marshall, writing in 1796, says that a few of these trees which remainedhad then “ lately been taken down, and the timber of such as were sound wassold to the cabinet-makers, at very high prices, for inlaying: one tree in par-ticular was valued at 100/., and half of it was actually sold for 50 1. Theleast valuable were cut up into gate-posts, which are expected to last forages: even stakes made from the tops of yew have been known to stand fora number of years.” (Plant, and Rur. Orn., ii. p. 396.) In France, theyew is found to make the strongest of all wooden axletrees. The branchesfurnish stakes and hoops of great durability; and the young shoots may beemployed as ties, or woven into baskets, which, though heavier than those ofthe willow, will be of many times their strength and duration. Boutchermentions one of the uses to which the wood is applicable, which ought torender it even more in demand by the cabinet-maker than it now is; viz.,that “ the wooden parts of a bed made of yew will most certainly not beapproached by bugs. This is a truth,” he adds, “ confirmed to me by the

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