TAKING UP TREES FROM THE NUKSEKY. 151 



of an inch thick. A neck is made on one end by cutting 

 into each edge about an eighth of an inch ; a piece of No. 

 32 copper wire, about seven or eight inches long, is then 

 fastened in the middle, on the neck of -. x - 



the label, with two or three twists. \ / 



The two ends of the wire are then N, /^ 

 placed around the stem, or a branch of __^ 

 the tree, and are fastened with a twist or ^=^ 

 two. This kind of wire and label we 

 (hid by experience to be not only safe, 

 but more expeditiously attached than 

 any other. If a little paint is rubbed on 

 just before being used, the writing will 

 be more legible and permanent, but it wire label for trees, 

 should be so light as to be barely perceptible, else it will 

 clog the pencil. These labels are made very quickly, as 

 follows: take a common inch board planed, cut into 

 pieces the length of the label, make a groove with a knife 

 or saw along both sides, at one end for the neck, and then 

 set the piece on its end, and split off the labels with a 

 knife ; this can be done nearly as fast as one person can 

 pick them up. The wire costs three shillings per pound, 

 and is cut into lengths with a pair of common shears. 



Packing. Persons who are ignorant of the structure 

 of trees, never appreciate the importance of packing ; and 

 that is the reason why so many trees are every year 

 destroyed by exposure. It is not uncommon, in this part 

 of the country, to see apple trees loaded on hayracks, 

 like so much brush, without a particle of covering on any 

 part of them, to travel a journey of three or four weeks 

 in this condition. Of course it is utterly impossible that 

 such trees can live or thrive ; and yet the persons who 

 thus conduct their nursery operations, are doing the most 

 profitable business. Such practices are not only dishonest, 



