The code below needs the setBorder() method invocation on JTextArea.
But JTextFields do ont need it.

- eduardo

// JTextComponent comes with a border but JTextArea does not.

import com.sun.java.swing.*;
import com.sun.java.swing.border.LineBorder;

public class Test extends JPanel {

    public static JFrame frame;
    public static JTextArea t;

    public static void main(String args[]) {
frame = new JFrame("Short");

Box topBox = Box.createVerticalBox();

Box box = Box.createHorizontalBox();
box.add(new JTextField("one", 10));
box.add(t = new JTextArea("two", 1, 10));
t.setBorder(LineBorder.createGrayLineBorder());
topBox.add(box);


frame.getContentPane().add("Center", topBox);
frame.pack();
frame.show();
    }
}