At 5:54 AM -0500 12/18/03, Jon Murphy wrote: > The forests of England and Spain were >stripped of fine oak in the time of the great fleets, but the yew wasn't >stripped for the archers. The bow had to be made from just the right branch >of a mature tree - whereas the masts of the Armada and the English fleet >required the entire trunk of the straightest and best oak.
English yews exist in quantity because a medieval English law mandated the planting of yews in churchyards to maintain local supplies of bow wood. Michael wrote: > In this day and age, I think cutting down any tree whether endangered, or > not, is a crime. Trees will be preserved if they have commercial value, but will be destroyed if they are merely pleasant to look at. Ed Margerum
