1340 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ily 
closely clipped in, the seeds are seldom permitted to ripen. When the seeds 
are to be sown, they should be gathered the moment the capsules appear ready 
to open, and sown immediately in light rich earth, consisting chiefly of vege~ 
table mould, which is well drained, so that the water may never lie on the seeds. 
Cuttings of from 4in. to 6in. in length should be put in, in autumn, ma 
sandy soil, and a shaded situation, and in a year they will be fit to transplant 
into nursery lines. Layers may be made either in the spring or autumm, and 
either of the young or old wood. The dwarf box used for edgings is propa- 
gated by being taken up, divided, and replanted! The roots of the box, being 
numerous and small, though by no means hair-like, like those of the Erica- 
cez, retain the earth about thera; so that plants of box always come up with 
a ball; and hence the tree may be transplanted at almost any season, provided, 
if in summer, that the weather be moist at the time. Box edgings are best 
planted early in spring, because the frost in winter is apt to destroy those 
leaves which have been cut in trimming the plants. Box edgings and hedges 
may be clipped at almost any season, except midwinter. Some garden- 
ers prefer trimming box edgings in June, just when the plants have nearly com- 
pleted their year’s shoots; because they will afterwards make shoots of 
Zin or | in. in length, or, at all events, protrude a few leaves, and thus, in a 
week or two, will conceal all appearance of the use of the shears. When this 
practice is followed, it is necessary to go over the edgings or hedges in July, 
m order to cut neatly off with the knife any shoots that may have been pro- 
truded too far; taking care not to cut the leaves. The more common prac- 
tice is to clip the box in autumn; but in that case, as many of the leaves are 
mjured by the shears, their marks remain till the middle of the following May. 
The edging or hedge looks well for a fortnight at that season; but afterwards it 
has rather a neglected appearance, till the next trimming season, which is in the 
beginning of September. The superiority of the June clipping must be obvious, 
whether applied to edgings, hedges, or mural or sculpturesque ornaments. 
Box edgings, when kept low, if they are wanted to endure many years, require 
occasionally to be cut in almost to the ground; and this operation should only 
be performed on one side of the edging in one year, and not on the other side 
till the second year following. When treated in this way, both edgings and 
hedges will, on good loamy soil, last an extraordinary length of time ; whereas, 
if they are continually clipped on the surface only, a network of shoots is 
formed there, which, by excluding the air from the stem within, occasions the 
decay of the weakest ; and the edging or hedge becomes naked below, and 
unsightly. Sometimes this evil may be remedied by cutting down ; but, in 
general, the best mode is to replant. The form of the section of a box edging 
or hedge should always be that of a truncated triangle; the broadest end 
being that next to the ground. In the case of edgings to walks, or to flower- 
beds, their breadth at the ground may be 3 in., the height 4in., and the breadth 
at top 2in.; or half these dimensions may be adopted. In every case, both of 
edgings and hedges, the base ought always to be broader than the summit, in 
order that the rain may fall on the sides, and the light of the sun strike on 
them with more force. In clipping box trees into artificial forms, it is usual 
to enclose the tree in a slight frame of wirework of the form proposed: the 
wire should be copper, and painted green, for the sake of durability, and to 
render it inconspicuous. The same kind of skeleton wirework, or trellis-work, 
is put up for mural and architectural topiary work. 
Insects and Diseases. The box is very rarely attacked by insects, and has 
very few diseases. There is a proliferous =~ 
growth of leaves at the points of the 
shoots, which appears in some seasons, 
and is*probably occasioned by the punc- 
ture of an insect, but of what species 
we are not aware. The fungus Puccfnia 
Baxi Grev. (fig.1219.) is found occasion- 
ally on the leaves. 
