64 MY GARDEN. 



of lead with a hole punched in it. This piece of lead (fig. 76) has the 

 number struck with steel punches, with the required numbers, and a 

 set of punches are kept for this purpose. 



At my garden, earthenware labels are very extensively in requisi- 

 tion, especially for ferns and Alpine plants. I find, however, that frost 

 frequently breaks them, a matter which the manufacturer should care- 

 fully consider. Wooden labels rubbed over with white lead and written 

 upon with a lead pencil, answer perfectly well for ordinary crops 

 lasting not more than one season. None of these plans are without 

 their disadvantages, and for fruit-trees there is no better mode of 

 retaining in perpetuity the names of trees than by making a plan of 

 the garden and arranging the trees by orders. The position of any tree 

 may always then be known, and even if one dies its place can be 

 left vacant, and the name of any other may be determined by its 

 relation to those around it. I always have used this plan myself. 



Gardeners should always have a marking iron for branding the 

 initials of their owner on all tools, that the ownership may at once be 

 recognized, and that they may not be removed by mistake by 

 casual workmen. 



In the cultivation of all plants temperature is of primary import- 

 ance, and for the estimation of heat and cold thermometers come 

 to our aid. We have many thermometers, and every large plant- 

 house should have several placed in various situations. For rough 



work, thermometers at about a shilling 

 a-piece suffice, provided good instru- 

 ments are at hand for comparison. 

 For exact observation a set of tested 

 FlG - 77- instruments must be employed. First, 



it is necessary to have a minimum thermometer (fig. 77) placed an 

 inch or two above the grass to determine the lowest temperature of 

 vegetation at night It is then equally important to learn the maxi- 

 mum heat of the sun, which is most conveniently done by a black 

 bulb thermometer placed in vaaw in a glass tube (fig. 77). These 

 two thermometers inform us of the extreme cold of night and the 



