194 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



strong supports, connected by iron stays from 

 one support to the other, and from the supports 

 to each side of the ladder; it is thus rendered 

 self-supporting. Extension ladders (fig. 248) 



Fig. 248.— Heathman'fl Extension Ladder 



are useful for work requiring a self-supporting 

 ladder. 



Packages. — A great variety of baskets, boxes, 

 &c, may now be obtained, in many sizes, for 

 the conveyance of garden produce. A chapter 

 on the subject of packing flowers, plants, &c, 

 will be found elsewhere. . 



VI. Miscellaneous Articles. 



Tallies. — No mode of numbering plants can 

 excel that in which the Arabic figures are em- 

 ployed; for these being the most universally 

 known can be more easily read, and with less 

 risk of mistake, than any other. But, in many 

 cases, painting numbers in a manner not liable 

 to be soon effaced by exposure to the weather, 

 would occupy too much time, and would prove 

 too expensive. Accordingly, marks to represent 

 numbers are cut on wood, and these cuts re- 

 main visible till the wood gets into a state of 

 complete decay ; for although the surface of the 

 tally must waste more or less, according to the 

 nature of the wood, by the action of the weather, 



yet, as the face wastes, the notches cut in it 

 deepen from the same cause in an equal or even 

 greater degree. The Arabic figures, with the 

 exception of No. 1, cannot be quickly and well 

 cut on wood with a knife. Nos. 4 and 7 require 

 each a combination of three cuts, and all the 

 others are circular in their formation, and diffi- 

 cult of execution. Unquestionably, the best 

 method is that by which the numbers are repre- 

 sented with the fewest cuts and those most 

 easily made. In these respects Seton's method 

 has the advantage of various others that have 

 been proposed. The digits are represented in 



Fig. 249. 



fig. 249. It will be observed that none of the 

 units require for their formation more than two 

 strokes, and that the whole series, from to 9 

 inclusive, is formed by thirteen straight cuts 

 and three notches. This cannot be done, by any 

 other known method, with so few; and whilst 

 this is the case, Seton's method must be con- 

 sidered the simplest and best. The numbers 

 read exactly like those of the Arabic system, 

 each additional figure increasing the previous 

 value of the series tenfold, besides adding its 

 own. They should be cut and read from the 

 end of the tally placed in the ground. The use 

 of Roman figures (I, V, X, &c.) is not uncommon 

 in nurseries, the difficulty of making C (100) be- 

 ing got over by substituting a notch on the edge of 

 the tally. Thus 

 would repre- 

 sent 126. 



For ordinary use nothing has been inventcu 

 to supersede the prepared pine -wood label, 

 slightly rubbed with white paint, and written 

 upon with a black-lead pencil whilst wet. Some 

 composition pencils, of which the marks on paper 

 cannot be effectually rubbed out by india-rubber, 

 are preferable to those of genuine plumbago. 

 Eed chalk is found to withstand the weather 

 for many years. 



The best permanent label for trees and shrubs 

 is a slab of sheet-lead, 4 inches by 3 inches, or 

 3 inches by 2 inches, with about \ inch of one 

 long side turned over to form a rim, below which 

 two holes are pierced. The surface of the lead 

 should be beaten smooth, and then the letters 

 punched in with punch-type, obtained from an 

 ironmonger. When printed, the letters should 

 be filled up with white-lead, and when this is 



