. A history of the vegetable kingdom; embracing the physiology of plants, with their uses to man and the lower animals, and their application in the arts, manufactures, and domestic economy. Illus. by several hundred figures. Botany; Botany, Economic; 1855. THE CYPRESS. 47-5 that at Brabume churchyard, in Kent, was nearly twenty feet diameter, although it had been dis- mantled by storms; and at Sutton, near Win- chester, there was, as Evelyn quaintly says, " such another ; At Hedsor, in Buck- inghamshire, there was lately, if there be not still, one in health and vigour, full
. A history of the vegetable kingdom; embracing the physiology of plants, with their uses to man and the lower animals, and their application in the arts, manufactures, and domestic economy. Illus. by several hundred figures. Botany; Botany, Economic; 1855. THE CYPRESS. 47-5 that at Brabume churchyard, in Kent, was nearly twenty feet diameter, although it had been dis- mantled by storms; and at Sutton, near Win- chester, there was, as Evelyn quaintly says, " such another ; At Hedsor, in Buck- inghamshire, there was lately, if there be not still, one in health and vigour, full twenty-seven feet in diameter. In the woods of Cliefden, near Hedsor, there are some extraordinary remains of these trees, whose roots, apparently of vast age, twine about the chalk rocks in the most fantas- tic shapes. Considering the immense size to which the yew grows, and the strength, durability, and even beauty of its timber, one cannot help regret- ting that, when those great trees shall have yielded, as yield they must, to the destructive power of time, there should not be a succession. It is true that, in consequence of the great improvement of the iron manufacture, and the cheapness of that article, it can be applied to many purposes for which the great strength of the yew was well adapted. The custom of clipping yews into fantiistic shapes was much practised in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some of our churchyards still have their yew trees thus cut into the pre- tended likenesses of birds and beasts. At Bed- font, in Middlesex, there are two celebrated trees, whose branches are annually shaped into some- thing like the form of a peacock, with a date C17O8) showing when this piece of useless labour was first performed. The Romans, as we learn from Pliny's letters, cut their evergreens into the fantastic shapes of birds and beasts. Lord Bacon, with his wonted good sense, protested against this practice, which was the fashion of his time. " I, for my p
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