The Common Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is very abundantly diffused, being found in warm climates, and in cold,-in most countries of Europe, and in many of Asia and America. Hollies are abundant in some of the uncultivated parts of the southern counties of England; and they are also to be met with in the Highlands of Scotland, in places where one could hardly suppose they had been planted.

Were it not that the holly grows very slowly when young, and cannot be safely transplanted when it has attained a considerable size, it would make better hedge-rows than the hawthorn. When allowed time, and not destroyed by shortening the top-shoot, the holly grows up to a large tree. Some at the Hollywalk, near Frensham, in Surrey, are mentioned by Bradley, as having grown to the height of sixty feet; and old hollies of thirty and forty feet, with clean trunks of considerable diameter, are to be met with in many parts of the country.

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A holly hedge is a pleasing object, though it is too often clipped into formal shapes. Evelyn had a magnificent hedge of this sort, at his gardens at Say's Court. He thus rapturously speaks of this fine fence : 'Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind than an impregnable hedge, of about four hundred feet in length, nine feet high, and five in diameter, which I can shew in my now ruined gardens at Say's Court (thanks to the Czar of Muscovy) at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves, the taller standards, at orderly distances, blushing with their natural coral." The Czar of Muscovy was no great lover of the arts, and Evelyn did not thank him for his holly hedge, as the construction of his sentence would imply, but for the heedless ruin of his trim parterres.

The timber of the holly is very white and compact, which adapts it well for many purposes in the arts;

though, as it is very retentive of its sap, and warps in consequence, it requires to be well dried and seasoned before being used. It takes a durable colour, black,

or almost any other; and, hence, it is much used by cabinet-makers in forming what are technically called strings and borders, in ornamental works. When properly stained black, its colour and lustre are not much inferior to those of ebony. For various purposes of the turner, and for the manufacture of what is called Tunbridge ware, it is also much used; and, next to box and pear-tree, it is the best wood for engraving upon, as it is close and stands the tool well. The slowness of its growth, however, renders it an expensive timber. The bark of the holly contains a great deal of viscid matter; and, when macerated in water, fermented, and then separated from the fibres, it forms bird-lime.

3. Box.-The wood of the Box is of considerable size, though we generally meet with a small species in this country, in the state of a shrub, forming borders, where the largest stem is not thicker than a packthread, or, when not in this state, still as a little shrub often tastelessly cut into fantastic shapes. Only two species of box are mentioned by botanists; but there are several varieties, and one of them, the Dwarf Box (Buxus suffruticosa) ought, perhaps, to be considered as a distinct species from the Common Box (Buxus sempervirens), and not merely a variety, as no art has been able to rear the former to the size of the latter. The seeds of the one were never observed by Miller to produce plants of the other, as is the case with most varieties of species in the vegetable kingdom, more especially of trees and shrubs.

When allowed to arrive at its full growth, the box attains the height of twelve or fifteen feet, and the trunk varies in diameter from three to six inches, which it sometimes, though rarely, exceeds.

In

It is a native of all the middle and southern parts of Europe; and it is found in greater abundance and of a larger size in the countries on the west of Asia, to the south of the mountains of Caucasus. many parts of France it is also plentiful, though generally in the character of a shrub. In early times it flourished upon many of the barren hills of England. Evelyn found it upon some of the higher hills in Surrey, displaying its myrtle-shaped leaves and its bright green in the depth of winter. At Boxhill, near Dorking, a spot peculiarly distinguished for the beauty of its scenery, the box still flourishes. Some years ago many of the trees were cut down, and scarcely anything remained but its name, to mark the perennial verdure which once gave this lofty ridge its principal charm. But in many parts of the hill the boxtrees are again luxuriant.

No tree so well merits cultivation; though its growth is slow. It is an unique among timber, and combines qualities which are not found existing together in any other. It is as close and heavy as ebony; not very much softer than lignumvita; it cuts better than any other wood; and when an edge is made of the ends of the fibres, it stands better than lead or tin, nay almost as well as brass. Like holly, the box is very retentive of its sap, and

warps when not properly dried, though when sufficiently seasoned it stands well. Hence, for the wooden part of the finer tools, for every thing that requires strength, beauty, and polish in timber, there is nothing equal to it. There is one purpose for which box, and box alone, is properly adapted, and that is the forming of wood-cuts for scientific or other illustrations in books. These reduce the price considerably in the first engraving, and also in the printing; while the wood-cut in box admits of as high and sharp a finish as any metal, and takes the ink much. better. It is remarkably durable, too; for, if the cut be not exposed to alternate moisture or heat, so as to warp or crush it, the number of thousands that it will print is almost incredible. England is the country where this economical mode of illustration is performed in the greatest perfection; and just when a constant demand for box was thus created, the trees available for the purpose had in a great degree vanished from the island.

Permanent figures and ornaments are often impressed upon box, by a much more cheap and simple process than that of carving. For this purpose the wood is softened by the application of heat and moisture; and the die being strongly pressed upon it when in that state, the impression comes off, and is retained with considerable sharpness. Snuff-boxes of this description are extensively made in France, Switzerland, and Germany, and the material used is principally the root of the box.

4. EBONY.-As to which is the real ebony tree, those who treat of and classify plants are not wholly agreed, though it is usually referred either to one or more species of the date plum, that grow in the south-eastern parts of Asia, and the adjoining islands, or to that which is a native of Jamaica; though the former (Diospyrus Ebenus) is, by the best judges, considered as the true ebony. The

fact is, that the name ebony is applied to trees of various genera, producing wood of different colours, and only agreeing in the common qualities of great compactness, weight, and durability. Ebony was much more in use and esteem formerly than it is now. When good, it is very valuable for the purposes to which it is applied, not being liable to shrink or warp. It does not, however, hold glue so well as mahogany; and it is apt to be imitated by less valuable woods stained black.

In his Journal, Bishop Heber describes the Ebony tree of Ceylon as a magnificent forest tree, with a tall, black, slender stem, spotted with white. A great deal of the furniture in Ceylon is made of ebony. At Fonthill Abbey there were some splendid ebony chairs, carved in the most elaborate manner, and of prodigious weight, which were said to have belonged to Cardinel Wolsey; and there were formerly some similar chairs in the Round Tower of Windsor Castle.