Shrubs and Vines 
as to its source; and, to tell the truth, at long range 
these humbler viburnums “fill in’’ just as well as lilacs 
or hawthorns. 
A most distinctive type of shrub, with all the for- 
mality of coniferous evergreens, yet finely contrasting, 
by its remarkable compactness, with the loose foliage of 
other growths, is the tree-box, not native to America, 
but indigenous in Europe and Asia. It is a dwarf tree, 
its highest altitude not exceeding fifteen feet, but when 
only three feet in height its single shaft gives it an 
arboreal figure. It is a tall brother of the trim little 
box that has been used ad nauseam to border garden- 
walks, and which ought to be called the spinster plant, 
as being the most exasperating example of diminutive 
vegetable precision. Our tree-box, Buxus sempervirens, 
though not a bit less prim, somehow escapes the odium, 
and in many situations is a most desirable shrub. 
When closely trimmed, its small dark-green leaves are 
so solidly massed that its identity can never be mistaken. 
It yields to the shears most readily, and can be trimmed 
into conical and globular shapes without the impression 
of ridiculous artificiality; but the poor thing is often 
imposed upon, and nature insulted, by carving it into 
grotesque forms of four-footed beasts, hens, roosters, 
and other birds of prey. 
Its timber is among the few sorts that sink in water. 
There are varieties, leaves larger or smaller, and varie- 
gated with white or yellow, but they substantially fill 
the same niche, as a small, elegant, thrifty evergreen. 
You can about as easily tame a squirrel as you can 
tame the sumachs into conformability with lawn pro- 
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