[Footnote: Prize essay written for the International Forestry
Exhibition, Edinburgh.]
By JOHN R. JACKSON. A.L.S., Curator of the Museums, Royal Gardens, Ken.
The importance of the discovery of a hard, compact, and even grained
wood, having all the characteristics of boxwood, and for which it would
form an efficient substitute, cannot be overestimated; and if such
a discovery should be one of the results of the present Forestry
Exhibition, one of its aims will have been fulfilled.
For several years past the gradual diminution in the supplies of
boxwood, and the deterioration in its quality, have occupied the
attention of hardwood merchants, of engravers, and of scientific men.
Of merchants, because of the difficulties in obtaining supplies to meet
the ever increasing demand; of engravers, because of the higher prices
asked for the wood, and the difficulty of securing wood of good size and
firm texture, so that the artistic excellence of the engraving might be
maintained; and of the man of science, who was specially interested
in the preservation of the indigenous boxwood forests, and in the
utilization of other woods, natives, it might be, of far distant
countries, whose adaptation would open not only a new source of revenue,
but would also be the means of relieving the strain upon existing
boxwood forests.
While by far the most important use of boxwood is for engraving
purposes, it must be borne in mind that the wood is also applied to
numerous other uses, such, for instance, as weaving shuttles, for
mathematical instruments, turnery purposes, carving, and for various
ornamental articles, as well as for inlaying in cabinet work. The
question, therefore, of finding suitable substitutes for boxwood divides
itself into two branches, first, directly for engraving purposes, and,
secondly, to supply its place for the other uses to which it is now put.
This, to a certain extent, might set free some of the boxwood so used,
and leave it available for the higher purposes of art. At the same time,
it must not be forgotten that much of the wood used for general purposes
is unsuited for engraving, and can only therefore be used by the turner
or cabinet maker. Nevertheless, the application of woods other than box
for purposes for which that wood is now used would tend to lessen the
demand for box, and thus might have an effect in lowering the price.
So far back as 1875 a real uneasiness began to be felt as to the future
supplies of box. In the _Gardeners' Chronicle_ for September 25, of that
year, page 398, it is said that the boxwood forests of Mingrelia in the
Caucasian range were almost exhausted. Old forests, long abandoned, were
even then explored in search of trees that might have escaped the notice
of former proprietors, and wood that was rejected by them was, in 1875,
eagerly purchased at high prices for England. The export of wood was at
that time prohibited from Abhasia and all the government forests in
the Caucasus. A report, dated at about the same period from Trebizond,
points out that the Porte had prohibited the cutting of boxwood in the
crown forests. (_Gardeners' Chronicle_, Aug. 19, 1876, p. 239.) Later
on, the British Consul at Tiflis says: "_Bona fide_ Caucasian boxwood
may be said to be commercially non-existent, almost every marketable
tree having been exported." (_Gardeners' Chronicle_, Dec. 6, 1879, p.
726.)
The characters of boxwood are so marked and so distinct from those of
most other woods that some extracts from a report of Messrs. J. Gardner
& Sons, of London and Liverpool, addressed to the Inspector-General of
Forests in India, bearing on this subject, will not be without value;
indeed, its more general circulation than its reprint in Mr. J.S.
Gamble's "Manual of Indian Timbers" will, it is hoped, be the means of
directing attention to this very important matter, and by pointing
out the characters that make boxwood so valuable, may be the means of
directing observation to the detection of similar characters in other
woods. Messrs. Gardner say:
"The most suitable texture of wood will be found growing upon the sides
of mountains. If grown in the plains the growth is usually too quick,
and consequently the grain is too coarse, the wood of best texture being
of slow growth, and very fine in the grain.
"It should be cut down in the winter, and, if possible, stored at once
in airy wooden sheds well protected from sun and rain, and not to have
too much air through the sides of the sheds, more especially for the
wood under four inches diameter.
"The boxwood also must not be piled upon the ground, but be well skidded
under, so as to be kept quite free from the effects of any damp from the
soil.
"After the trees are cut down, the longer they are exposed the more
danger is there afterward of the wood splitting more than is absolutely
necessary during the necessary seasoning before shipment to this
country.
"If shipped green, there is great danger of the wood sweating and
becoming mildewed during transit, which causes the wood afterward to dry
light and of a defective color, and in fact rendering it of little value
for commercial purposes.
"There is no occasion to strip the bark off or to put cowdung or
anything else upon the ends of the pieces to prevent their splitting.
"Boxwood is the nearest approach to ivory of any wood known, and will,
therefore, probably gradually increase in value, as it, as well
as ivory, becomes scarcer. It is now used very considerably in
manufacturing concerns, but on account of its gradual advance in price
during the past few years, cheaper woods are in some instances being
substituted.
"Small wood under four inches is used principally by flax spinners for
rollers, and by turners for various purposes, rollers for rink skates,
etc., etc., and if free from splits, is of equal value with the larger
wood. It is imported here as small as one a half inches in diameter, but
the most useful sizes are from 2½ to 3½ inches, and would therefore,
we suppose, be from fifteen to thirty or forty years in growing, while
larger wood would require fifty years and upward at least, perhaps we
ought to say one hundred years and upward. It is used principally for
shuttles, for weaving silk, linen, and cotton, and also for rule making
and wood engraving. _Punch, The Illustrated London News, The Graphic_,
and all the first class pictorial papers use large quantities of
boxwood."
In 1880, Messrs. Churchill and Sim reported favorably on some
consignments of Indian boxwood, concluding with the remarks that if the
wood could be regularly placed on the market at a moderate figure, there
was no reason why a trade should not be developed in it. Notwithstanding
these prospects, which seemed promising in 1877 and 1880, little or
nothing has been accually done up to the present time in bringing Indian
boxwood into general use, in consequence, as Mr. Gamble shows, of
the cost of transit through India. The necessity, therefore, of the
discovery of some wood akin to box is even more important now than ever
it was.