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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