MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 121 



deal, by first kiln-drying them, and afterwards soaking them in linseed 

 oil. After the oil is thoroughly dried, which will require two or three 

 weeks, the sticks may be painted. Sticks of red deal, treated in this 

 manner, will remain good for upwards of twenty-five years. (' Hort. 

 Keg.,' i. p. 301.) Mr. Masters is of opinion (* G-ard. Mag.,'xv. p. 321) 

 that the duration of hop-poles may be doubled by kyanizing them ; but 

 little benefit has been yet derived from it in the case of props for 

 garden plants. Mr. W. H. Baxter found kyanizing of little or no use. 

 Garden tallies and labels are articles by which names or numbers 

 are attached to plants, and they are of many different kinds. The ma- 

 terials are wood, iron, zinc, lead, or earthenware, and the forms are 

 still more various than the materials. The most durable are those of 

 lead, with the name or number stamped with a steel punch or type, 

 and rendered conspicuous by having the letters filled in with white lead 

 paint. The most common are made of wood, with the numbers, in 

 imitation of the Roman numerals, cut with a knife. To form tallies to 

 receive numbers of this description, take firm ash-rods, about an inch 

 or an inch and a half in diameter ; saw them into lengths of ten or 

 twelve inches ; point the lower end rather abruptly, and either plane 

 or cut with a knife a surface sufficient to receive the number required 

 on the upper half. This kind of tally may be made during winter and 

 wet weather, when little else can be done, and a stock kept on hand 

 for use, if required. They are found to last eight or ten years, 

 according to the situation in which they are placed. Sometimes the 

 number is written or painted, and the writing is in ordinary cases done 

 with a black-lead pencil on a smooth surface, on which a little white 

 lead has been previously rubbed in with the finger, which, when 

 written on in a moist state, is found greatly to increase Fi 

 the durability of the impression. Sometimes Indian ink 



is used on a white painted ground, and, being a body 



colour, presents a more conspicuous and durable impres- 



sion than common ink, which is only a stain. The most 



durable letters, next to impressions stamped in lead, are 



those in black oil-paint on a white ground. For plants 



in pots, a label formed of wood, cut with a common knife 



from thin laths, rubbed with white lead, and written on 



with a black-lead pencil, is one of the most convenient 



and economical forms and materials. Fig. 92 shows one 



with a shank of wood ; if wire is used it ought to be 



fixed to the rim of the pot, as the wire would injure 



the roots by corrosion. The plate is 2J inches long and 



1 inch broad, and about a quarter of an inch thick ; 



the wooden or wire shank is about three-sixteenths of an w , 



inch thick, and is painted black, while the wooden plate w ^ a 



is painted white. These tallies are very conspicuous and of iron wire 



very durable. For herbaceous plants, or low shrubs or or wood. 



trees in the open air, the tally, fig. 93, is very neat and durable, and 



much more economical than would at first sight appear. It is formed 



of cast-iron, with a head of the same metal, in which is a sunk panel, 



