544 Remarks on Garden Tallies. 



or eight years, and, if under a coping, for twenty or even thirty 

 years. 



Tallies for Water-plants, in Ponds or Margins of Lakes in 

 Pleasure-grounds. — The best kind of tally I have seen for this 

 purpose is of the following kind. An oval piece of zinc, 

 attached obliquely to a rod of copper, brass, or iron, leaded 

 into a piece of stone worked flat on the under surface, which 

 steadies it in the mud; the length of the rod requiring to be 

 regulated by the general depth of the water into which it is to 

 to be plunged, leaving the face of the plate about 2 in. above 

 the surface of the water. This kind of tally, with an oval 

 plate about 5 in. by 3 in., will take the generic and specific 

 names of a plant, sufficiently large to be perfectly legible at a 

 distance of 15 or 20 feet. This tally has a much better 

 appearance painted green and lettered white, and costs, with a 

 brass or copper rod, about 2s. 6d. each ; with iron, which lasts 

 for many years, about Is. 6d. 



Labels suited to receive Numbers, not Names, of Plants, and the 

 Mode qf numbering allowed, to be most simple and durable. — The 

 most simple and durable mode of numbering is found to be that 

 of Seton, which consists of simple lines and notches cut into the 

 tally (see Hort. Brit., p. xxi.) ; the next, Roman numerals, 

 which may also be cut into the tally with a knife or chisel. To 

 form tallies to receive numbers of this description, take firm ash 

 rods, about 1 in. or 1^ in. in diameter; saw them into lengths 

 of 10 or 12 inches; point the lower end rather abruptly; and 

 either plane or cut with the knife a surface sufficient to receive 

 the number required on the upper half. This kind may be 

 made by the labourers during the winter and wet weather, when 

 little else can be done ; and a stock kept on hand for use, if 

 required. They are found to last eight or ten years, ac- 

 cording to situation. This sort is preferable for out-ground 

 purpose; but, for pots or pendent numbers, strips of wood 

 made thicker and narrower than those for receiving names, or 

 strips of sheet-lead which may be stamped with a blunt or round- 

 edged chisel, will be found most serviceable. 



In the above remarks, such tallies only are noticed which, 

 from practical observation, I find to be the most recommendable 

 for general purposes, of all the various kinds which have come 

 under my hands during several years of professional practice 

 in lettering botanical tallies, and working amongst them after- 

 wards, and thereby gaining the true result ; and the above- 

 mentioned kinds will, I think, be found the most durable and 

 neat of any that are now in general use in gardens. . 



Botanic Garden, Oxford, June 17. 1839. 



