168 THE NURSERY. 



cellar in sand during the winter, and planted out in the 

 spring in a warm, dry border, will grow about as certain- 

 ly as grape cuttings, if not more so. 



If planted in pots, and set in a hot-bed, or where they 

 will get a slight bottom heat, they will come along more 

 surely and rapidly. Cuttings of the green shoots, taken 

 off when two or three inches long, and placed on a gentle 

 bottom heat, root quickly. 



SECTION 6. LABELS FOR NURSERY TREES. 



It is highly important that a correct system for preserv- 

 ing the names of varieties be adopted. Our practice is, 

 to make labels of cedar, eighteen inches long, three inches 

 wide, and about an inch thick. These are pointed 

 on one end, to be sunk- in the ground eight or ten 

 inches, and the face is painted white. When a 

 variety is to be budded or grafted, the name, or 

 a number referring to a regular record, is written 

 on it, and it is put in the ground in front of 

 the first tree of the variety. Besides this, we 

 invariably record, in the nursery book, each row, 

 with the kind or kinds worked on it, in the order 

 they stand in the square. In case of the acci- 

 dental loss of the labels, the record preserves- the 

 names. Figure 94 represents this kind of label, 

 and though there are many others in use, we 

 believe this to be one of the simplest and best. 

 At the time of budding or grafting, we usu- 

 Fi ^94 _ a ^ wr i te tne ame on with pencil, and after the 

 I.ABEL square has been all worked, the numbers are 

 NUKSEKY ma( ^ e w ith a brush and black paint in a conspicu- 

 ROWS. ous manner. 



SECTION 7. TAKING TIP TREES FROM THE NURSERY. 



This is an operation that should be well understood, 

 and performed with the greatest care. The importance 



