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Both Virgil and Ovid allude to the use of this wood for musical instruments, andemploy the word box as if synonymous with that of flute. In more moderntimes, in Britain, it is mentioned by Turner, Gerard, Parkinson , and otherwriters on gardening and rural affairs ; and, previously to the eighteenth cen-tury, was in great repute for gardens in the geometric style, from the facility withwhich it could be made to assume whatever form the gardener wished: it wasalso highly valuable when there were but few evergreens grown in England,from its hardy habit, and the liveliness of its hue. The wood of the tree hasbeen in use for turnery from the earliest ages, and for wood engraving sincethe fifteenth century.
Properties and Uses. The wood of the box is remarkably heavy; weighing,when newly cut, 80 lb. 7 oz. per cubic foot, and, when perfectly dry', 68 lb.12 oz. and 7 gr. It is the only European wood that will sink in water: it isyellow, very hard, and susceptible of a fine polish. The wood was formerlymuch used in England in cabinet-making and inlaying, as it still is in France ;and, also, in both countries, for musical and mathematical instruments, combs,and various articles of turnery. The principal use of the boxwood, however,at present, is for wood engraving; and for this purpose it is an importantarticle of commerce.
For Turnery, the boxwood used by the cabinet-makers and turners inFrance is chiefly that of the root. The town of St. Claude, near which isone of the largest natural box woods in Europe , is almost entirely inhabitedby turners, who make snuff-boxes, rosary beads, forks, spoons, buttons, andnumerous other articles. The wood of some roots is more beautifully mar-bled, or veined, than that of others; and the articles manufactured vary inprice accordingly. The wood of the trunk is rarely found of sufficient sizefor blocks in France ; and when it is, it is so dear, that the entire trunk of atree is seldom sold at once, but a few feet are disposed of at a time, whichare cut off the living tree as they are wanted. There are in the Forest of Ligny, generally, many stumps which have been treated in this manner.Boxes, &c., formed of the trunk, are easily distinguished from those madeof the root, by the wood of the trunk always displaying a beautiful and veryregular star, which is never the case with that of the root. Boxwoodis very apt to split in drying; and, to prevent this, the French turnersput the wood designed for their finest works into a dark cellar as soon as itis cut, where they keep it from three to five years, according to circumstances.At the expiration of the given time, they strike off the sap-wood with a hatchet,and place the heart-wood again in the cellar till it is wanted for the lathe.For the most delicate articles, the wood is soaked for 24 hours in fresh veryclear water, and then boiled for some time. When taken out of the boilingwater, it is wiped perfectly dry, and buried, till wanted for use, in sand orbran, so as to be completely excluded from the light, and air. Articles madeof wood thus prepared, resemble, in appearance, what is called Tunbridge ware.The spray of the box, though it burns very slowly, is much esteemed in France ,as fuel for lime-kilns, brick-kilns, ovens, &c., where a great and lasting heatis required. ( FTouv. Cours., &c.)
Wood Engraving . The wood used for this purpose is chiefly importedfrom Turkey or Odessa; and sells, in London , for from 11. to 14 1. a ton,duty included; the average annual consumption in Britain being about582 tons. In the year 1832, M‘Culloch tells us (in his Dictionary of Com-merce ), the duty on imported boxwood was 1867/. 17s. 4 d. In France ,the native trees are seldom of sufficient size for wood engraving ; and woodto the amount of 10,000 francs is annually imported from Spain . The boxtrees which were cut down on Box Hill in 1815 produced upwards of 10,000/.lhe art of cutting on wood was invented before the art of printing; and it issupposed to have been first practised between the years 1400 and 1430. Thefirst objects to which it was applied were very different in their character;viz. books of devotion and playing cards. The mere outlines of the figureswere rudely cut in the wood with knives in the direction of the grain, and the