II. ENCLOSING, LAYING OUT. 



thriving in all sorts of soils, and in all sorts of aspects ; 

 its freshness under the hottest sun, and its defiance of all 

 shade and all drip : these are beauties and qualities, 

 which, for ages upon ages, have marked it out as the 

 chosen plant for this very important purpose. 



43. The box, to all its other excellent qualities, adds 

 that of facility of propagation. You take up the plants, 

 when they are from three to six inches high, when they 

 have great numbers of shoots coming from the same 

 stem ; you strip these shoots off, put them into the 

 ground, to about the depth of two inches, or a little 

 more ; fasten them well there, first with the hand, and 

 then with the foot j clip them along at the top to within 

 about two inches of the ground^ and you have a box 

 edging at once. You must, indeed, purchase the plants, 

 if you have not taken care to raise them before-hand ; 

 and, as to thrift, strawberries, daisies, or grass edgings, 

 there are generally cart-loads of them to be thrown away, 

 or to be dug from a common. I should suppose, how- 

 ever, that ten pounds' worth of box, bought at the 

 nurseries, would be sufficient for the whole garden 5 and, 

 then, with common care, you have neat and efficient 

 edgings for a life-time. 



44. To plant the box, some care must be taken. The 

 edging ought to be planted as soon as the gravel walks 

 are formed. The box ought to be placed perpendicu- 

 larly, and in a very straight line, close to the gravel ; and 

 with no earth at all between it and the gravel. It ought 

 to stand, when planted and cut off, about four inches 

 high ; and the earth in the borders or plats ought to be 



