18 JANUARY 1902, Page 14

[TO THE EDITOR OF TtiE " SPECTATOR.")

SIR,—Is it a fact that yew-berries are poisonous? I know that animals die from browsing on yew, but I remember being initiated by a small cousin in my childhood into the charms of yew-berries, and neither of us suffered in the least. They were sweet and sickly, and did not tempt me to a surfeit;. but I feel sure that an equal quantity of nightshade or labuanum berr)es would have " done for" us.—I am,