POISONOUS PLANTS.
[To TUE TUE EDITOR OF "SPECTATOR.") read with great interest the letter on yew-berries pellished in your paper of the 18th Inst. Some years ago I was introduced to yew-berries as a fruit by a small girl friend of mine. We devoured a good many of the luscious red fruit, but carefully removed the green kernel. Presently the little girl took five and ate them in toto. We played about for half an hour or more, after which she became very white, and complained of a bad headache. I left the house, and did not meet her again for some days. When we met she told me that she ha dheen ill. The yew-berries had, she thought, poisoned her. I have often since then heard them spoken of as extremely poisonous. In Bedfordshire the children devour quantities of the red part of these berries, which they call by the local name "snotty-gobbles," and suffer no ill effects. With regard to animals being poisoned by browsing on yew. I have seen animals, especially donkeys, cropping the fresh green shoots, and enjoying them; but if it has been cut for more than a few minutes it becomes deadly in its effect. The birds which live upon the fruit have plumage of a deeper, richer colour, and, I fancy, sing longer in the cold weather than those living on other food.—I am, Sir, &c., Fryern, Chandlers Ford, Hants.
GRACE U. STUART.
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