BOX EDGING. 



BOX EDGING. 



much height ; but they grow well in 

 shade, and always look fresh and nice. 

 Bitxits sempervirens is the common box, 

 to which B. aurea and B. argentea, the 

 gold and silver varieties, form an agreeable 

 change ; B. Balearica is a good sort, and 

 so is B. myrtifolia. B. s. sujfruticosa, a 

 dwarf variety of the common box, is the 

 sort that is used for the edgings of borders. 



Box Edging. 



The box used for the purpose of edging 

 is Buxus sempervirens. It is readily pro- 

 pagated by dividing the old plants, and it 

 will grow in any soil not saturated with 

 moisture. The best time for clipping box 

 is about the end of June. To form edgings 

 of box properly is an operation in garden- 

 ing that requires considerable care. Mrs. 

 London gives the following excellent direc- 

 tions : " First, the ground should be ren- 

 dered firm and even : secondly, a narrow 

 trench should be accurately cut out with 

 the spade in the direction in which the edg- 

 ing is to be planted : thirdly, the box 

 should be thinly and equally laid in along 

 the trench, the tops being all about an inch 

 above the surface of the soil ; and fourthly, 

 the soil should be supplied to the plants 

 and firmly trodden in against them, so as 

 to keep the edging exactly in the position 

 required ; the trench should always be 

 made on the side next the walk, and 4 after 

 the soil is pressed down and the walk 

 gravelled, the gravel is brought up over 

 the soil, close to the stem of the box, so as 

 to cover the soil at least an inch in thick- 

 ness, and to prevent any soil being seen on 

 the gravel-walk side of the box. This 

 also prevents the box from growing too 

 luxuriantly, as it would apt to do if the 

 trench were on the border side, when the 

 plants would lean against the gravel, and 

 the roots being entirely covered with soil, 

 would grow with so much luxuriance that 

 the plants would be with difficulty kept 



within bounds by clipping. A box edging 

 once properly made and clipped every year, 

 so as to form a miniature hedge, about 

 three inches wide at bottom, three inches 

 high and two inches wide at top, will last 

 ten or twelve years before it requires to be 

 taken up and replanted ; but if the edging 

 be allowed to attain a larger size say six 

 inches wide at bottom, six inches high and 

 three inches wide at top, it will last fifteen 

 or twenty years, and probably a much 

 longer period." 



Box Edging, How to Plant. 



The method adopted in planting box 

 edging is simple enough, but it should be 

 carried out in strict accordance with the 

 directions about to be given in order to 

 ensure regularity of setting and evenness 

 of growth. The mode of procedure is 

 shown in the accompanying sectional illus- 

 tration, and it is scarcely necessary to say 

 that it is precisely the same both in 

 planting a box edging for the first time 

 and in renovating, or rather replanting, an 

 old edging. The old plants having been 



METHOD OF PLANTING BOX EDGING. 



pulled to pieces, and prepared for planting, 

 if the path be already gravelled, the gravel 

 must be drawn back from the edge of the 

 border towards the middle of the path, as 

 at A. The edge, B, of the border must 

 then be dug over with a fork, and the soil 

 along the edge be brought to a level and 

 even surface, and rendered firm and sol;d 

 by beating it with the spade. A garden 

 line is then stretched along the edge of the 

 border, from end to end, as at c, so as to 

 clearly define the edge and show the exact 

 line that is to be occupied by the box. A 

 shallow trench, E, about 3 inches deep, rs 

 then made with the spade, and the earth is 



