156 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



those are mentioned ; but other persons wish to make their own, and naturally desire 

 that they may be produced cheaply, and will last long. For these home workers what 

 may be described as Wright's safety coil label (2, "Ribston Pippin") is introduced. 

 Strips of zinc, with numbers stamped on them, have long been in use, but numbers do not 

 satisfy the majority of fruit growers, and tablets containing the names of varieties are 

 easily attached as shown, for the illustration explains itself. A plan of marking 

 out the zinc for cutting without waste is also shown from a sketch by an able Sussex 

 gardener, Mr. E. Inglis. A still simpler form of label is made by cutting strips of zinc 

 6 or 7 inches long, about 1 inch wide at one end for writing on, and tapering to a 

 point at the other for coiling round a branch. 



There are two methods of writing on zinc labels. The first is the ancient plan of 

 smearing the surface with rather thick white-lead paint, and while this is wet writing with 

 a blacklead-pencil, pressing it through the paint down to the zinc. The name is then 

 "sunk," and remains legible for several years. Mr. Walter Kruse, a Kentish fruit 

 grower, describes his method of making ink for and writing on zinc labels as follows : 

 " Procure some sulphate of copper, which is very cheap, from a chemist's, and make a 

 saturated solution of it in water. That means that you cannot add too much copper, as the 

 water will only dissolve a limited quantity, and the rest remains at the bottom of the 

 bottle until more water be added. Use a quill pen. Shortly before being written on, the 

 surface of the zinc will probably require cleaning by rubbing with fine emery-paper, 

 which may also be used for rubbing out any names and writing others that may be 

 required on the labels, as in the case of trees that may be grafted with different varieties 

 of fruit. The above-described label lasts for years." 



Some French cultivators place labels or tablets, on which the names of fruits are 

 written, in small clean glass phials, cork securely, and hang them on the trees. The 

 names are thus protected from the weather, and can be read through the glass. The 

 method, though fanciful, is not devoid of utility. 



PRUNING. 



Probably there is no subject in connection with the cultivation of fruit trees that is 

 so little understood by the majority of persons who grow them as is the art of pruning. 

 Expert gardeners understand it, but even all gardeners do not comprehend the principles 

 on which the work must be conducted to be effective. But fruit trees are being planted 

 in increased numbers yearly by persons who have had no training as gardeners, and it is 



