YELLOW OCHRE. [Cowmen :0 MATTERS.] YEW, Economical Uses of. Nearly every part of the yew tree is applied to some useful purpose. Considered as timber, the wood is hard, compact, of a fine and close grain, flexible, elastic, easy to split, and little affected by atmospheric changes. It varies in tint from orange-red to deep brown, with a hard white sap-wood. Both the real wood and the sap-wood will take a very high polish. It has been found that the wood, when cut into thin veneers before being seasoned, and steeped some months in a pond, took a purple-violet colour. Yew timber takes a long time to dry, but shrinks little during the drying ; showing that the moisture contained, though•not large in quantity, clings with great obstinacy among the fibres. The fineness of its grain renders it well fitted for cabinet-making purposes, when used asa veneer and polished. The wood is converted by the turner into vases, boxes, and numerous kinds of useful and ornamental articles. Beautifully veined pieces are often obtained from the root and the knots of the branches. Yew is one of the best of all kinds of timber for hydraulic engineering, such as water-pipes, pumps, piles, &e., on account of its power of resisting the action both of air and water. In France axle trees are often made of yew. The branches are useful for making stakes and hoops ; and the young shoots for baskets and ties. Yew, in its power of repelling or resisting vermin, has been recommended as a good material for wooden bedsteads. Before the invention of gun powder the most important use of the yew was in making bows for the archers. Roger Ascham, in his Toxophiles; published in 1544, states
that " Ewe fit for • bows to be made is the bough, the plant (stem I), and the bole ; the bough is knotty, the plant is apt to break, and tho bole, or boolo, is pronounced to be the best. Ile adds, " If you come into a ahoppe and fyndo a bowe that is small, lunge, heavye, strange, lyingo atreighte. not wyndynge, not marred with knotte, genie, wyndshake, wen, freat, or pinch—bye that bow() of my The pieces of yew fashioned into bows were from 1 to 6 feet in length. In the time of Elizabeth foreign yew began to grow scarce ; it was much preferred to English, insomuch that a bow of foreign yew was valued at Gs, 8d., when one of English yew cold for 2s. Italy, Turkey, and Spain, were in succession nearly exhausted of yew for this purpose; until at length it became customary to join two pieces together—yew to make the belly of the bow, and ash or elm for the back. At the present day, very few yew trees are found with such a growth of trunk and branches as to be suitable for bows.
The nut yields an oil nutritious for fattening poultry. The dried leaves are sometimes used medicinally, and so are other portions of the tree, but not to any great extent, as there is much poisonous matter secreted by the yew. This poison is one of the causes of the durability of the tree, as it repels the attacks of insects.