LABELS FOR PLANTS 557 



Labels 



TREE LABELS may be made of various kinds of material. The 

 commonest and cheapest label is made of clean white pine, primed 

 with thin white lead. These can be purchased of dealers in nursery- 

 men's supplies. The ordinary nursery tree label is 3| inches long. 



The Cornell tree label is made from the " package label " used by 

 nurserymen. It is a pine notched tally 6 inches long and li inches 

 wide. (Cost, painted, about $1.30 to 11.50 per thousand.) These are 

 wired with heavy stiff wire, not less than eighteen inches long, so that 

 the loop is five or six inches across. The labels are hung on one of 

 the lower limbs of the tree, where they are very conspicuous. The 

 ends of the wire are hooked together around the limb by means 

 of pincers, and, being stiff, it is not readily removed by careless or mis- 

 chievous persons. The name is written firmly with a very soft black 

 lead-pencil, and when the label is hung upon the tree, it is dipped in 

 thin white lead, which fixes the writings and preserves it almost indefi- 

 nitely ; or the name may be written firmly into a fresh white lead. 



Labels made of small strips of common zinc are often used, the 

 name being written on the metal with a lead-pencil. The label is 

 wound about a limb, and it expands as the part grows. The label 

 is so inconspicuous and so easily removed that it is unsatisfactory. 



Thick tallies of lead, with the name stamped in with dies, are good. 



Thin metal labels that hang on a wire are often broken or torn 

 out at the eyelet by the wind. 



STAKE LABELS, made of pine or other soft clear wood, are most sat- 

 isfactory for garden use, unless, perhaps, in botanic gardens, or other 

 permanent exhibition grounds where a more conspicuous and orna- 

 mental label is wanted. The label should be primed with white lead, 

 after which it takes a permanent mark from a medium soft lead-pencil. 



A good label for grounds which are cultivated by horses, and which 

 are therefore likely to be broken by the whiffletrees, is a pine stake 2 

 feet long, 3| inches wide, and 1| inches thick, sawed to a taper at the 

 lower end. Give them two coats of thin white lead, taking care not 

 to pile them on their faces whilst drying. Make the record with a soft 

 large lead-pencil. When the writing wears off, or the label is wanted 

 for other uses, plane a shaving off the face, paint again, and it is as 

 good as new. 



