That breather box is not imagined for PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) with hose going to carb. It intends to vent pressure to open air though gap between lid and box. With that in mind, you can enhance the breathing by putting a washer between the lid and box on each screw (to make gap bigger) and replace the sponge with brass or stainless steel pot scrubber (less restrictive air flow).
The idea is the screens will filter oil out of the vapors pumped out of the oil filler neck and valve cover vents. The collected oil on the screens drains to the bottom of the box to a level high enough to drool back down the hoses to where it came from (thus the hoses must always aim downwards from the box).
Theoretically you could seal the lid to the box with gasketing, remove the sponge, pop a hole (or two) above the level of existing hole for vent(s) hose to carbs. The result would be a somewhat rudementry PCV -- that a CA Smog Referee would never approve. So what would be the point?