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.