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OF FOREST-TREES. 279 



lasting shrub whatever, subject, after a year or two, to grow dry, sticky, CH. XXL 

 and full of gaps ; which Box is so little obnoxious to, that, braving all ^"^*v*»«^ 

 seasons, it needs not to be renewed for twenty years together, nor kept 

 in order with the garden-shears above once or twice a-year ; and imme- 

 diately upon that, the casting water upon it, hinders all those offensive 

 emissions which some complain of. But whilst I speak in favour of this 

 sort of edging, I only recommend the use of the Dutch Box, (rarely 

 found growing in England,) which is a pumil dwarf kind, with a smaller 

 leaf, and slow of growth, and which needs not be kept above two inches 

 high, and yet grows so close, that beds bordered with boards keep not 

 the earth in better order ; beside, the pleasantness of the verdure is 

 incomparable. 



One thing more I think fit to add ; that it may be convenient once 

 in four, five, or six years, to cut off the strings and roots which straggle 

 into the borders, with a very sharp spade, that they may not prejudice 

 the flowers, and what else one plants in them. 



I need not speak much of the uses of this tree, (growing in time to 

 considerable stature,) so continually sought after for many utensils, being 



The Box-tree makes a fine and clieerful appearance in evergreen quarters, and when 

 cut down, the wood sells at a high price ; a sufficient encouragement for the planter to 

 raise it for sale. The English wood, however, is inferior to that which comes from Turkey. 

 The American Box is also preferable to ours. 



This beautiful evergreen was much esteemed by the ancients, for use as well as ornament^ 

 They made combs of it as we do at this day : 



Multififlo Buxus quae tibi dente datur. mart. 



They also formed it into musical instruments to be played upon by the mouth : 



Si buxos inflare juvat r pLAUD. 



non illos carmina vocum, 



Longave niullifori deleclat tibia buxi. oviD, 



— Cum sacra vocant, Idsaque suadet Buxus, statius. 



Among the Romans, these trees were clipped into a variety of forms, a practice quite 

 exploded by our modern improvers in gardening. Pliny, the consul, in his letter to Apol- 

 linaris, on the subject of his Tuscan villa, minutely describes his garden, in which the Box 

 clipped into a variety of figures, was a principal ornament. This is the only regular ac- 

 count that we have of a Roman garden, which does not seem to differ materially from the 

 English gardens of the last century. 



