LABELS. There are two reasons for using labels, 

 to display the names of plants in public plantations 

 for the information of visitors, and to enable the gar- 

 dener to preserve the name of the plant for his own use. 

 In the former use, the label should be prominent, as 

 permanent as possible, and attractive or at least not 

 obnoxious in itself. In the latter case, the label may be 

 only a tag or tally, and it is often of temporary use. 



The characters demanded in a good plant-label in 

 general are legibility, convenience, durability and a 

 reasonable cheapness. The purposes for which labels 

 are needed by the horticulturist may be grouped as 

 follows: (1) For pots, boxes, frames and benches; (2) 

 for stock in storage or transit; (3) for rows, plots or 

 beds in garden, nursery, orchard; (4) for individual 

 trees, shrubs and plants. 



Of the materials that may be used for gardeners' 

 labels, wood holds the first place, and the soft, easily 

 worked na- 

 ture of white 

 pine makes 

 this the 

 favorite 

 species, al- 

 though other 

 more dur- 

 able woods, 

 such as ce- 

 dar, spruce, 

 cypress and 



2048. A stamped aluminum label, with raised letters. 



mulberry, are used to some extent. Machine-made 

 ready painted wooden labels of convenient shapes and 

 sizes, from 4 to 12 inches in length (see No. 1, Fig. 

 2049), are carried in all stocks of gardeners' supplies, 

 and are in common use in all work with plants in pots, 

 boxes and benches, and to some extent in out-of-door 

 gardening, but these should not be trusted where the 

 label is expected to endure for a considerable time. In 

 the storage of grafts and cuttings in pits or cellars, two 

 of these labels should be written and slipped together 

 under the tie, the outer one for immediate reference 

 and the under and protected one for security when the 

 other becomes defaced. 



Notched or perforated labels (Nos. 2, 3, Fig. 2049), 

 with or without wires, are also prepared for nursery- 

 men's use, those strung with soft copper wire being the 

 best. These are used in the shipping of nearly all trees 

 and shrubs, and here great annoyance would be saved 

 if all names were written distinctly and with a heavy 

 impression. If such labels are used on stock after 

 planting, the grower should use great care that stems 

 and branches are not choked by the wire. The printing 

 of any desired names may be procured on order, effect- 

 ing a great saving of time and a gain in distinctness. 



For marking rows, plots, and beds, stakes should be 

 used large enough readily to attract attention and not 

 be broken over or moved in cultivation. A very service- 

 able stake for nurseries, trial grounds and gardens is 

 made by cutting 2-inch pine or cypress plank 2 Y^ inches 

 wide and 2 feet long, pointing and giving two good coats 

 of paint. Inscriptions may be stenciled on these as sug- 

 gested in No. 4, Fig. 2049, written with a heavy pencil, 

 or better, where names, dates and list or plot numbers 

 are wanted, written on a square of sheet zinc and 

 fastened to the face of the stake with small nails. 

 (No. 5, Fig. 2049). An annual coat of paint obliterates 

 old lettering and preserves the wood. 



A common wooden label for borders, groups or speci- 

 men plants is shown by No. 6 and a variation by No. 7 

 (Fig. 2049). The stakes should be of some durable 

 wood, and the whole well painted. A paint of pure 

 lampblack and oil is the most indestructible and let- 

 ters will stand out like type after the lead paint and 

 the very wood surface have weathered away. An effec- 

 tive contrast is obtained by painting the face of the 

 label black and placing the lettering in white. 



For display labels on trees and posts in parks and 

 experiment stations, sheet aluminum is now used, 

 with the name stamped in raised letters by a machine 

 or by hand dies (Fig. 2048). Such labels are durable, are 

 not injured by sprays, keep clean, and are cheap in 

 first cost if the number to be made is enough to war- 

 rant the purchase of an equipment. We must now 

 provide for labels that withstand spraying compounds. 

 Of the sheet metals, zinc has heretofore proved 



superior to 

 other ma- 

 terials. 1 1 

 may be 

 stamped 

 with steel 

 letter dies 

 or written 

 upon with 

 a common 

 lead pencil, 

 but more 



commonly a chemical ink is used. The common 

 formula for this in horticultural books is sub- 

 stantially that prepared by the French chemist, 

 Brainnot, in 1837, and is as follows: Two parts by 

 weight of verdigris (acetate of copper), two of sal am- 

 moniac (ammonium chloride), one part of lampblack 

 and thirty parts of soft water. The chemicals should 

 be incorporated with a little of the water, and the 

 remainder added. Keep in a glass bottle tightly corked 

 and shake frequently while using, as the lampblack 

 tends to separate. The zinc, cut in the desired forms, 

 should be prepared by scouring slightly with emery 

 dust or fine sandpaper. The ink may be applied with a 

 quill or coarse steel pen, but a fresh one will be needed 

 with each batch of labels. Inks of an aqueous solution 

 of chloride of copper or of chloride of mercury are also 

 recommended for writing on zinc, which should first be 

 cleaned with a weak solution of muriatic acid. Bichlor- 

 ide of platinum is one of the blackest inks for zinc. A 

 slightly oxidized zinc surface may be written upon with 

 a soft lead pencil, and while the inscription will not be 

 very distinct at first will grow more so with age, and 

 will endure for years. 



It is always best to secure a sheet-metal label to the 

 bole or post by both ends if possible; but in many cases 

 a hanging label must be used. A wired zinc label, as 

 shown in No. 8, Fig. 2049, if exposed to the wind will 

 sometimes cut the eye completely out, unless care 

 is taken to twist the wire up tightly. If the end of the 

 label is folded over and the hole punched just beyond 

 the fold, it will not be so likely to pull out. Strips of 

 zinc % inch wide and 7 inches long (No. 9, Fig. 2049), 

 coiled loosely around a branch, as in No. 10, are a ser- 

 viceable form of tree-label, but even these should be 

 noticed every year, that they do not become fastened 

 into the fork of a rapidly-growing tree. 



For borders or beds of herbaceous perennials, bulbs, 



112 



(1761) 



