THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



65 



wire is thrust into the ground and the label thus held aloft 

 remains legible for many years, especially if painted. 



A good painted label is much superior to the unpainted 

 kind, but such a label is hard to find, nowadays. The ingenious 

 Yankees who make them, instead of giving them a good coat 

 of paint, have taken to dipping them in a thin decoction of oil 

 and color which makes them look as if painted though they do 

 not give the same results. It is often advisable to get the un- 

 painted labels and paint them at home to be sure of satisfactory 

 work. In this case it is well to use good white paint, not too 

 thick. If properly painted the marks of a common lead pencil 



have to be raised aboA^e the soil in some manner, at least for 

 herbaceous plants, and since they do not ordinarily last much 

 longer than the wooden labels, have little to recommend them. 



In writing labels, it is customary to write the different 

 words composing the name on different lines to avoid confusion 

 when the words begin to be illegible. The first word begins at 

 the upper end of the label, near the outer edge and the next 

 word is written below and a little further to the right. Pot 

 labels stuck in the soil should always face away from the seeds 



will remain legible for six or seven years 

 at least. For marking all permanent 

 plants, the label we have described is one 

 of the best to be had. Among other good 

 kinds recommended, one is a strip of thin 

 copper upon which the name is written or 

 printed with a hard stylus. This makes 

 an impression in the copper that is legible 

 for years. Unfortunately the cost of such 

 labels is much higher than for the wooden 

 ones more commonly chosen. Strips of 

 zinc are also often used. A name written 

 in pencil on zinc wiU last a long time. 

 These labels, however, like the tree labels. 



