160 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Glass tallies with the name etched or scratched with a diamond 

 might be useful in greenhouses, because unaffected by dampness. 

 They should be very thick so as not to be easily broken. 



Pottery labels have been much used in England. A member 

 of our Society uses for bulbs a quadrangular pointed label, four 

 inches long, made at the Cambridge pottery. He writes on it with 

 a pencil and likes it very much. Such labels are very subject to 

 breakage and consequent loss. In Europe a label is manufactured 

 of white composition similar to celluloid, to be written on with a 

 lead pencil or indelible ink, which seems very desirable and easily 

 handled. The Botanic Garden at Geneva used them successfully 

 for several years. They are sold by Albert Couvreux, Nogeut, 

 Haute-Marne, France. I have had them in use for six months 

 and so far they have proved ver}- satisfactory. 



Wood comes next in the series of perishability. It is that 

 which is and always will be most used, and with all due regard to 

 metal labels, it is the most desirable material for general use if 

 properly prepared. 



Mr. Jackson Dawson, gardener at the Arnold Arboretum, whose 

 opinion is known to be valuable from his wide experience, says 

 that locust lasts longer than an}' wood he knows for tallies, but it 

 does not hold paint well. His experience has been satisfactory 

 with the giant redwood of California, and with the southern 

 cypress. Red cedar is an extremely durable wood and is well 

 suited for labels. White pine is the wood in most common use and 

 is one of the best of easily obtained woods. 



Probably the best wa}* to preserve wood to be written on is to 

 soak it in linseed oil, and then paint on both sides, reserving a 

 space for writing. Some thin garden labels so prepared are per- 

 fectly sound after nine years' exposure in the ground. At the 

 Arnold Arboretum the wooden stakes used as labels, about eighteen 

 inches long, have the ends dipped in tar, and the rest of the label 

 receives two coats of paint. The names and catalogue numbers 

 are painted on the label thus prepared. With this treatment white 

 pine has a life of eight or nine 3'ears. 



The Botanic Garden at Cambridge uses basswood labels 

 soaked in oil. Paint is rubbed in on the face and the name is 

 written in pencil. These labels, of larger and smaller sizes ac- 

 cording to the size of the plants, are attached to metal sup- 

 ports. Their larger supports are iron strips two feet long, 



