Country Life
BY IAN NIALL A FRIEND says that he has heard that the story that yew leaves are poisonous is a legend, and that cattle that die from eating them are not Poisoned but succumb after acute irritation of the intestines caused by the sharp leaves. I don't know about this in anything but the Common English yew, which is poisonous. Death by eating the berries of yew is rare, I believe, but the old leaves of the tree are quite lethal, and the bark, too, is dangerous if chewed. Providing an animal is capable of vomiting the leaves or bark, it is not so likely to die from eating yew, but when these remain in the stomach, death usually follows. The berries are not a powerful poison—thrushes eat them with relish and suffer no apparent harm. It is also true that the young shoots of Yew are not nearly so dangerous as the old dark leaves. The latter are known to kill animals browsing Upon them in a very short tithe. I should not like to test the theory that the yew is not poisonous. I fancy that those Who have tried became most uncomfortable, and a few provided work for the undertaker.
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