his account of this reptile, was either totally unacquainted with its habits and economy, or that he wilfully perverted them, and made out the cayman to be a "slow-paced and even timid animal," in order to be revenged on me, who had described it as swift, and one of extraordinary ferocity: for, be it known, that in 1837, I found myself under the necessity of writing to Swainson a very pungent ornithological letter, which was printed. He never answered this letter, and I thought that I had done with him altogether, till in 1839, whilst I was in Italy, out came Lardner's volume on Fishes, containing the sweeping extract which I have transcribed at the head of this paper. Swainson was then about to take his final departure to New Zealand. Steam will soon

convey to him a copy of this. I call upon him to contradict the statements which it contains,

or to acknowledge the truth and the propriety of them.

THE YEW TREE.

I NEVER cast my eyes on the mouldering fabrics which once adorned this land, without renewing my veneration for the memory of the holy and useful monks who have gone before us. There is still enough left of the falling walls to show how much these faithful friends of the poor and needy must have been esteemed through the whole extent of the nation: and when I sit me down under the dark foliage of some ancient yew tree, which has escaped the fury of the destroying Vandals, and think of the miserable state to which the sons of poverty are now reduced, I cannot help heaving a sigh, whilst my very heart itself seems to sink within me.

I am extremely partial to the yew tree. It has already repaid me for the pains which I have taken in its cultivation; and when I resort to my usual evening stand, in order to watch the flocks of sparrows, finches, and starlings, whilst they are dropping in upon the neighbouring hollies, I feel not the wintry blast; as

the yew trees, which are close at hand, are to me a shield against its fury; and, in fact, they offer me a protection little inferior to that of the house itself.

I have not been sparing in the arrangement of ornamental yew trees. Just sixty yards from the bridge which joins the island to the main, there is a yew tree crescent, three hundred feet in extent; and not far from this, there are some fine clumps of the same plant, producing a very pleasing effect. Should he, who will succeed to them when I am low in dust, have the philosophy to set at naught the modern disapprobation of ornamental planting in lines and circles, he will always command the sweet warbling of unnumbered songsters, from earliest spring to latest summer: for the yew tree is a kind friend to the feathered race; and the wren and the hedge-sparrow will sing sweetly amidst its foliage throughout the autumn, and even after the winter season has set in.

The cultivation of the yew tree is sure and simple. It will thrive in any soil that is clear of swamp: but, the richer the soil, the richer is the appearance of its foliage; and if the planter will trench his ground from two to

tnree feet deep, throwing back into the bottom the worst of what has been removed, and reserving the best for the upper stratum, he is sure to be handsomely requited by a rapid growth of the trees.

Although the yew tree is a hardy plant, and fond of cold regions (" amantes frigora taxi "), still it will be much more vigorous in the sheltered valley, than on the bleak hill exposed to the wintry blast. Our western gales here in Yorkshire press far too keenly on its foliage, and render the side which is exposed to their fury as thin and wretched in appearance, as the face of a metropolitan alderman would be on Easter Sunday morning, after having struggled through forty long days of unmitigated fasting. Provided you do not care about having your yew tree in all the exuberance of uncurbed vegetation, you may apply the pruning-knife and shears with a safe and an unsparing hand; for the yew tree will submit to curtailment with good effect, and without any apparent diminution of vitality. If we clip its southern side in imitation of a wall, and allow that which faces the north to flourish in its natural state, we shall have from the same line

of trees a walk impervious to the blast of Boreas for ourselves, and a provision of berries for the birds, at a time when their more ordinary supply of food is considerably on the decrease.

Charming is the appearance of the yew tree after the sun has passed the autumnal equinox. The delicate crimson of its fruit, with the dark green leaves behind it, produces an effect so pleasing to the view, that it can scarcely be surpassed by any thing which the southern forests present to the lover of botany, as he wanders through their mazes.

The bole of this tree possesses the power of effectually reproducing a supply of main branches, after the original ones have been severed from it by the axe of the woodman. At Lupset Hall, the residence of our former honest member for Wakefield, Daniel Gaskell, Esq., there stands a lordly yew, by far the most gigantic of any in this neighbourhood. At some period of time, now long gone by, all its larger branches have been cut away from the stem. Others now supply their place; and by the present healthy aspect of the tree, we may conclude that, at some future day, this second series of