188 
GARDEN MECHANICS. 
much pleasure in cordially recommending them, feeling confident 
of their satisfactory action, which, with the reduction in price, 
must cause them to be very generally adopted as soon as they 
become known. 
In connexion with this subject we have to mention another 
article, which, if not positively of so useful a character, yet pos¬ 
sesses considerable interest as an artistic improvement on that 
indispensable appendage to every plant, the label. The objec¬ 
tionable forms employed for these have long been matter of 
regret, and on one occasion the Royal Botanic Society, impressed 
with the general desire to effect some improvement, offered con¬ 
siderable prizes for the production of something superior to 
those in ordinary use, but nothing calculated to meet the wishes 
of the promoters or the public resulted from the very liberal 
measure. To be of general utility the design must be of such 
nature as to admit of the labels being made by those who use 
them, as it is quite out of the question to expect the thousands 
that are annually required in every garden of any pretensions 
can be otherwise provided, and they must be of a material that 
will readily receive and retain the desired impression. This is a 
fatal objection to those made of iron and glass, materials that 
seem much in favour with commercial manufacturers, but not at 
all suited to the purpose, the first because of its liability to cor¬ 
rode and the difficulty of marking it, and the latter from its 
brittle character and the increased trouble of writing on it. 
Wooden and zinc labels have not sufficient durability to allow of 
their being used as permanent marks, without incurring a deal 
of unnecessary trouble in renewing them, which may be entirely 
obviated by the employment of lead. The well-known lasting 
character of this metal led to its adoption for the labels we are 
about to describe, and there does not seem another so easily 
converted or likely to answer the desired end, against which so 
few objections can be urged. 
The form of these labels is that of a scroll, which was selected 
for two reasons : the first, because it appeared by associating the 
means with the end, to be the most appropriate ; and secondly, 
because it could be so placed in a pot as to be entirely out of the 
way. They are made with a tail, in the ordinary way, which is 
thrust into the mould, and the upper end or face of the label. 
