COLLECTING AND PRESERVING. 191 



7. Labels. 



TREE LABELS may be made of various kinds of material. 

 The commonest and cheapest label is made of clean white 

 pine, primed with thin white lead. These can be purchased 

 of dealers in nurserymen's supplies. The ordinary nursery 

 tree label is 3J inches long. 



The Cornell tree label is made from the "package label" 

 used by nurserymen. It is a pine notched tally 6 inches long 

 and 1 \ inches wide. (Cost, painted, about $1.30 per thousand.) 

 These are wired with heavy stiff wire not less than 18 inches 

 long, so that the loop is 5 or 6 inches across. The labels 

 are hung on one of the lower limbs of the tree where they are 

 very conspicuous. The ends of the wire are hooked together 

 around the limb by means of pincers, and, being stiff, it is not 

 readily removed by careless or mischievous persons. The name 

 is written firmly with a very soft black lead-pencil, and when 

 the label is hung upon the tree, it is dipped in thin white lead, 

 which fixes the writing and preserves it almost indefinitely ; 

 or the name may be written firmly into a fresh coat of white 

 lead. 



Labels made of small strips of common zinc are often used, 

 the name being written on the metal with a lead-pencil. The 

 label is wound about a limb, and it expands as the part grows. 

 The label is so inconspicuous and so easily removed that it is 

 unsatisfactory. 



Thick tallies of lead with the name stamped in with dies, are 

 very durable. 



Thin metal labels which hang on a wire are often broken or 

 torn out at the eyelet by the wind. 



STAKE LABELS, made of pine or other soft clear wood, are 

 most satisfactory for garden use, unless, perhaps, in botanic 

 gardens, or other permanent exhibition grounds where a more 

 conspicuous and ornamental label is wanted. The label should 

 be primed with white lead, after which it takes a permanent 

 mark from a medium soft lead-pencil. , 



