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% in. 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 peneil 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 zine labels (No. 11, Fig. 46), eut in narrow 
strips from a sheet of the metal. The record is made 
upon the zine with a soft lead pencil, and the label is 
then wound about a branch. Very often the record is 
