i 4 4 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



elegance to his gardens and to his house, 

 what he conceived to be an embodied 

 reproduction of the Villa of Hadrian, 

 of Cicero's retreat at Tusculum,and the 

 charming country abode of which Pliny 

 has left us so many interesting particu- 

 lars. The ancient sarcophagi of this old 

 Roman garden, wrought about with 

 alto-relievi, flanked by great clumps of 

 Agaves growing with tropical luxuri- 

 ance — its antique statues telling against 

 masses of evergreen foliage — its Cy- 

 presses shooting lovely forms into the 

 blue Italian sky, contrasted with the flat- 

 topped Stone Pines, all these remove it 

 far from the common type of Italian 

 garden as known in our land. 

 A BEAUTIFUL EVERGREEN CO- 

 VERT PLANT.— We often see lists 

 given in catalogues of covert-plants like 

 Privets, which are only of slight beauty 

 and value, and inferior to our native 

 Briers, Bracken, and Furze for covert. 

 There is one bush, however, not always 

 known as a native be it said, which makes 

 the most beautiful of all evergreen co- 

 vert, especially in sandy, chalky, stoney, 

 or dry gravelly soils, on which few other 

 things will thrive. The Box is common in 

 shrubberies but rarely in its natural form 

 of a spreading plumy bush, as on an open 

 sunny hillside. Nothing we know of is 

 more beautiful than a colony of Box fully 

 exposed, as there it has a beauty never 

 seen in gardens or shrubberies. A great 

 quality, and one which removes it en- 

 tirely in value from the Laurels and other 

 evergreens commonly used, is that the 

 rabbits do not touch it, owing to some 

 poisonous property . In the last two years, 

 in the hope of getting some evergreen 



covert I tried the hardiest form of the 

 Cherry Laurel, and also (a great favourite 

 of mine) the true Laurel or Sweet Bay. 

 Though accustomed to the depreda- 

 tions of the rabbit, I never saw anything 

 so sad as the disappearance of both, 

 many plants being absolutely bitten to 

 the ground,whilst in the same woodsBox 

 of small and of all sizes is untouched. 

 For shelter, pleasant colour, hardiness, 

 and for being proof against vermin, it 

 should take the first place among ever- 

 green covert plants, and there is a vast 

 range of our country in which it grows 

 well. It dislikes a compact soil, but, even 

 where such soils abound, it is often pos- 

 sible to find patches of gravel or sandy 

 soil in which it will thrive. The Box is at 

 home on arid soils and on hillsides and 

 mountain slopes. Large tracts of forest 

 are covered by it in southern and west- 

 ern France and other parts of southern 

 Europe, northern Africa, and northern 

 and western Asia. It is also found in some 

 of our southern and western counties — 

 Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Gloucester. It 

 is a long-livedshrub,and slow of growth ; 

 as it is, it will, in the best conditions, rise 

 to a height of 2 o feet or over, and in some 

 specimens as much as 6 feet round the 

 stem. But grand specimens like these 

 are the exception, and most often the 

 Box is seen as a compact shrub. It is easy 

 to establish or move at any age, but for 

 covert use is best bought small, in which 

 state it can be had very cheaply. It seeds 

 freely in our country and on arid slopes 

 might be increased by scattering the 

 seed on the surface. To many people 

 the odour of Box is very agreeable and 

 its colour also is beautiful. 



