LABELS. For indicating the names of plants and trees, either under cultivation or travelling from one place to another, the use of Labels is essential and indispensable. Those made of strong paper or parchment are largely employed for attaching to plants when packing, as they are light, and bend readily under pressure, without causing injury. The use of ink should be avoided, and blacklead pencil substituted with some sorts, otherwise the name may become obliterated, because of moisture causing the ink to run. Narrow pieces of sheet lead, with the name, or a number, punched near one end, form durable Labels, and are constantly used in some nurseries, but more extensively on the Continent. Wooden Labels are usually made of deal; but other sorts of wood are employed, such as elm, oak, and teak, when any are required to last a long time. Labels made of cast iron, zinc, iron coated with zinc, slate, porcelain, and other substances, may be procured, if desired; but scarcely one of them can equal, in neatness or general usefulness, those properly made of wood. The iron very soon rusts, and consequently requires burning and re-writing; slate and porcelain break in all directions, and are thus rendered useless. Zinc is usually written on with an indelible ink, consisting of a solution of sulphate of copper, and applied with a quill pen or pointed piece of wood; but Labels made of it are frequently far from satisfactory. The sizes may be indefinite when wood is used, and, by careful painting and preparation, the Labels may be rendered very durable. If only required for ordinary use, a little white paint on one side will suffice. Any name may be easily erased with a piece of glass, and the Label used for other plants until it decays. Before permanently placing wooden Labels in the open ground, they should be painted all over and dried, adding a second coat at the time of writing, and then finally dipping the part intended for insertion in the ground into creosote, gas-tar, or any other preservative solution.