372 SHORT NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



experience goes, tlie plant growing- on seaside saudliills is always C. letran- 

 drum, whereas C. pumilum oceurs on calcareous banks, or among the 

 short herbage of the chalk downs near to the sea, but not on tiie sand- 

 hills of the shore. — A. G. More. 



SiBTHORPiA EUROP^A IN SussEx. — This rare plant has been re- 

 ported to be extinct in Sussex [Journ. Bot. VI. p. 264 ; comp. Cyb. 

 Brit. p. 26-i], but it still lingers in at least one spot on the borders of 

 the county, namely, in the parish of Waldron, about eight miles north of 

 Hailsham, where, hy the side of a little stream at the bottom of a deep 

 valley, the writer found it growing sparingly last summer. The locality 

 was courteously pointed out by the Rev. H. Ley, the rector of the 

 parish, to whom it has been long known. Waldron is noted for other 

 botanical rarities, especially the Phyti-nina sp'icatum, which grows there 

 abundantly. The beautiful and sweet-scented Lastraea fcenlsecii is also 

 found there.— A. K. Cherrill. 



A New Garden Label. — The indestructibility of solid paraffin sug- 

 gested to nie its use for the preservation of printed plant labels. The 

 plan having proved successful, and the ' paraffined ' labels having resisted 

 the adverse atmospheric influences of two seasons, I cannot but hope that 

 more extended trials will confirm my conviction that a permanent garden 

 label, legible and inexpensive, has been attained. The following is a 

 brief description of the mode of preparing the labels : — Print the names, 

 etc., of the plants on stout, smooth, white paper of suitable dimensions 

 and form. Prepare cast-iron label-holders with a flattened spike to keep 

 them straight in the ground, and with the upper expanded portion so 

 contrived as to have a sunk flat space about a quarter of an inch deep, 

 and the right size for the reception of the printed label and its protective 

 glass cover. Paint this sunk space with several coats of good white 

 paint, and allow it to dry thoroughly. The next step is to unite the 

 label to the glass plate witli paraffin. The paper-label and the glass be- 

 ing cut to the same size, the latter is cleaned and kept hot, — about as hot 

 as boiling water, — while the label is being dipped into a bath of melted 

 paraffin. The label is then cpiickly pressed on to the hot glass, a board 

 and a weight being put upon both. When cold, the glass with its 

 adherent label is placed in the sunk space of the label-holder, and 

 secured with good putty. Subsequently, a coat or two of paint on this 

 putty will keep all secure. The above directions are much easier to 

 carry out than they appear to be at first sight, while several contrivances 

 and precautions will suggest themselves to any one who carries them out 

 on a large scale. For instance, the glass plates may be kept hot in an 

 oven, and removed with a pair of crucible tongs as wanted, while another 

 pair of tongs or pincers will be useful to hold the labels during their im- 

 mersion in the melted paraffin. Here it should be stated that the best 

 paraffin is that which is freest from any kind of fat or grease, and melts 

 at a temperature at least above 56° Centigrade. It might be found 

 advisable to imbed the label and glass in paraffin, or to modify the plan 

 of fixing the label to the glass by putting it, soaked in paraffin, between 



