308 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



soft, clear pine, $4 to $5 per thousand. For a more 

 permanent stake label, one cut from clear pine, 2 ft. 

 long, 3% hi. wide, 1% in. thick, and sawed to a 

 point, is one of the best. These are given two thin 

 coats of white lead,, care being taken not to pile 

 them upon their faces until thoroughly dry, to avoid 

 a rough surface for the pencil. The record may be 

 made by a large soft pencil, like a carpenter's pencil, 

 or by a brush and black paint ; but for all annual 

 crops the pencil will be found more serviceable. At 

 the end of the season, or when the record becomes 

 dim, a thin shaving is planed off the face of the 

 label, it is repainted, and used again. The label is 

 thick enough to allow of many annual dressings, 

 while the lower portion is not reduced, and it there- 

 fore lasts for many years and is strong enough to 

 resist the shocks of cultivator or whippletrees. For 

 ornamental bushes this large label is too conspicu- 

 ous, and for this purpose a pine label 1% in. wide, 

 % in. thick, and 18 or 20 in. long is excellent. The 

 lower half is soaked in a strong solution of sulphate 

 of iron (copperas), and, after drying, in lime water, 

 to preserve it. 



A great variety of labels has been recommended 

 for trees, but it is doubtful if we have yet found the 

 ideal label, although some of those which are here 

 described seem to satisfy most needs. Many people 

 like zinc labels (No. 11, Fig. 46), cut in narrow 

 strips from a sheet of the metal. The record is made 

 upon the zinc with a soft lead pencil, and the label is 

 then wound about a branch. Very often the record is 



