30 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
shred of cotton-wool or other material bound round it 
at the point of contact, if the leaf cannot be drawn aside. 
For staking Orchids, bamboo canes are preferable to 
common deal-wood sticks. 
LABELLING THE PLANTS 
It adds much to the interest of a collection of Orchids, 
either small or large, if a proper system of recording the 
plants is arranged for by means of a stock-book, in which 
the name of each plant is entered as it is acquired, together 
with the source from which it was obtained, and any other 
particulars that may be required when the plant flowers. 
This entry need only be brief, and generally one, or at most 
two lines will suffice for each plant. If it is intended to 
keep the plants under numbers, the left-hand margin should 
bear consecutive numbers from one onward, but if it is 
desired to have the names on each plant, the names in the 
stock-book should be arranged in an alphabetical manner. 
In some collections where numbering is practised the 
number is written across the top of the label, and the name 
written lengthwise when desired. 
The common deal label is not suitable, because the 
base soon decays in Orchid houses, causing danger from 
fungal growth, and rendering the identification of the 
plant after the label has perished, or fallen away, very 
uncertain. The lead number for clipping the rim of the 
pot, or attaching to the wires of the basket or suspending 
pan, is less objectionable, but they are only convenient 
where numbers are alone used. Zinc labels and various 
other contrivances have been tried, but the best and safest 
