LABELING 23 



to use these copper labels is to suspend them on 

 a stout wire stake alongside the plant, so that no 

 removing will be necessary unless the rose is being 

 transplanted to some other part of your garden, 

 when, of course, the label should go along with it. This 

 shape of label is now available in celluloid faced with 

 perfectly transparent mica. See right-hand cut at bot- 

 tom of page 22. 



Stake Labels 



Many of the stake labels are good, but if low are 

 apt to become spattered with mud. 



The garden clubs are often good guides in such 

 matters. The Lake Forest Club members prefer this one 

 It cannot damage the plant or be in the way when 

 pruning. It is high enough above ground to escape the mud- 

 splash and likewise may be read without stooping. Another 

 commendable quality, is its unobtrusiveness. We call it the 

 "garden-club label." It is a sheet-metal tag suspended from 

 the goose-neck top of a No. 9 galvanized iron wire 15 

 inches long, to be placed upright in the ground. The plant- 

 name may be written on it with an ordinary steel pen, using 

 indelible ink made by dissolving a copper cent in sulphuric 

 acid diluted with five parts of water. Or, if preferred, paint 

 the label and stake green and the letters in white. 



The Mann Plant-Label 



Another zinc label that has proved most satisfac- 

 tory for labeling hardy climbing roses and shrubs is 

 the Mann plant-label. The accompanying illustration 

 shows how this label is made, and the head for the 

 writing is bent at the proper angle so the legend can be 

 read easily. The stem is shaped so it takes firm hold 

 of the soil, will not heave by action of frost, or rot as 

 wooden labels will, nor is it easily dislodged by rakes 

 or animals. If accidentally stepped on, it will bend 

 W but not break. Writing is permanent (see formula 



