188C.] BOXWOOD AND ITS SUBSTITUTES. 619 



a new source of revenue, but would also be the means of relieving 

 the strain upon existing boxwood forests. 



While by far the most important use of boxwood is for engraving 

 purposes, it must be borae iu mind that the wood is applied to 

 numerous other uses, such as weaving shuttles, for mathematical 

 instruments, turnery purposes, carving, and for various ornamental 

 articles, as well as for inlaying in cabinet-work. The question, 

 tlierefore, of finding suitable substitutes for boxwood divides itself 

 into two branches, first, for engraving purposes, and, secondly, to 

 supply its place for the other uses to which it is now put. This, to 

 a certain extent, might set free some of the boxwood so used, and 

 leave it available for the higher purposes of art. At the same time, 

 it must not be forgotten that much of the wood used for general 

 purposes is unsuited for engraving, and can only therefore be used 

 by the turner or cabinetmaker. jSTevertheless, the application of 

 woods other than box for purposes for which that wood is now used 

 would lessen the demand for box, and thus might have an effect in 

 lowering its price. 



In 1875 a real uneasiness began to be felt as to the future sup- 

 plies of box. In the Gardeners' Ckronielc for September 25th of 

 that year, p. 398, it is said that the boxwood forests of Mingrelia, in 

 the Caucasian range, were almost exhausted. Old forests, long 

 abandoned, were even then explored in search of trees that might 

 have escaped the notice of former proprietors, and wood that was 

 rejected by them was, in 1875, eagerly purchased, at high prices, 

 for England. The export of wood was at that tinie prohibited from 

 Abhasia, and all the Government forests in the Caucas'us. A report, 

 dated at about the same period, from Trebizonde, points out that the 

 Porte had prohibited also the cutting of boxwood in the Crown 

 forests {Gard. Chron., Aug. 19, 1876, p. 239). Later on, the 

 British Consul at Tiflis says : " Bona fide Caucasian boxwood may 

 be said to be commercially non-existent, almost every marketable 

 tree having been exported" {Gard. Chron., Dec. 6, 1879, p. 726). 



The characters of boxwood are so marked and so distinct from 

 those of most other woods, that some extracts from a report of 

 Messrs. J. Gardner & Sons, of London and Liverpool, addressed to 

 the Inspector-General of Forests in India, will not be without value; 

 indeed, its more general circulation than its reprint in Mr. Gamble's 

 Manual of Indian Timbers, will, it is hoped, be the means of direct- 

 ing attention to this very important matter, and by pointing out the 

 characters that make boxwood so valuable, may be the means of 

 directing observation to the detection of similar characters in other 

 woods. Messrs. Gardner say : — 



"The most suitable texture of w^ood will be found growing 



