572 



HORTICU].TDRAL IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 



their cost would be a mere trifle. Around Paris so great is 

 the demand for these mats that_, in addition to being made 

 abundantly by hand as described above^ they are also made 

 by machinery. There is indeed an establishment for manu- 

 facturing them thus belonging to M. Dorleans, 37, Rue du 

 Landy, Clichy. The nurseries of the city are supplied by 

 him, and many people find the machine mats cheaper than 

 those they make by hand. 



The JSTume'roteue. — ^Numbering instead of labelling is 

 now adopted in so many gardens and nurseries, that 

 this instrument cannot fail to be useful. The following 

 description of it originally appeared in the Gardener's 

 Chronicle : — Horticulture is a science so vast, and em- 

 braces subjects so different, that however good a man^s 

 memory may be it is insufficient, and hence it becomes 

 necessary to give it mechanical aid. Among the means 

 employed are tickets or labels written upon parchment or 

 paper, or small pieces of wood or zinc ; but these are soon 

 effaced, and are very liable to get lost or displaced. A very 

 good plan frequently adopted consists in the use of small 

 bands of lead, which are rolled round the stems or branches 

 of the plants. Upon this lead a number is marked, corre- 

 sponding with a catalogue, in which the name and any par- 

 ticular remarks are entered. This method is sure ; but to 

 carry it out several things are necessary. First, there is 

 wanted a series of numbers from 1 to 10, or rather from 

 1 to 9, the zero, combined with other figures, making the 

 numbers 10, 20, 100, Sz;c. Then this series of numbers 

 must be fixed upon a block of wood, and the figures have 

 to be impressed upon the leads by means of a small hammer. 

 So that to mark the leads we want — 1st, a pair of scissors 

 to cut the metal ; 2nd, a set of numbers ; 3rd, a block to 

 receive them ; and 4th, a hammer to strike and indent the 

 figures in the leads. This apparatus therefore becomes 

 troublesome, especially when it is necessary to change its 

 place, as is the case when it has to be used in diflPerent 

 parts of a large garden, or in a field. Besides, it suffices 

 for one of the little figures to be lost to render the whole 

 series useless. 



