CHAPTER XLII. 
THE BOX-TREE AND HOLLY. 
The Box-tree.—Its Foreign Origin.—Its Western Attainments.— Its 
Usual Height.—Quality, Property, and Uses of its Wood.—Adapta- 
bility of its Foliage to Fantastic Designings—_How Propagated.— 
Winter Preservation of the Dwarf Species.—The Holly.—Its Va- 
rieties—The American Variety Considered.—Its Range of Growth 
and Favorite Soil.—Its Ornamental Perfection. 
THE BOX-TREE. 
Tus tree, although a native of Europe and Asia, may 
truly be said to be cosmopolitan. It reaches its great- 
est height in this country in Philadelphia. Who has 
not seen it used as an edging or border for walks, and 
admired the rich, dark, chrome-green of its leaves? It 
usually reaches to the height of from thirty to forty 
feet, with a very heavy wood—in fact, so heavy that it 
will sink in water—and so closely and finely grained 
that it is used for the finest kind of mathematical- 
instrument work, and for the finest kinds of carving. 
In some of the finest European gardens the box-tree 
was formerly pruned into fanciful figures, and, on account 
of the thickness of its foliage, was especially adapted 
to this kind of work. 
The box is best propagated from cuttings from six 
to eight inches long, which readily root if put in early 
in the fall in a frame of sandy soil; transplant to per- 
manent position in the spring. 
The dwarf species of the box, used for edging walks, 
should be carefully covered with snow, or some other 
covering that should remain all winter, care being taken 
not to smother it. 
