Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-05-14
Labelling Orchard Trees.

In nine cases out of ten the farmer
who plants an orchard will find no little
difficulty in distinguishing varieties of
fruit after the labels attached, one 20
each bundle of varieties, have become il
legible, which, being marked in pencil
upon a strip of wood they soon do.
Upon planting an orchard, whether of
pip or stone fruits, or a vineyard, or even
a plantation of berries, diagram on
paper should be made, showing accurate
ly the location of each row and the va
rieties therein. The way to do this will
easily suggest itself. If the trees are lost
from hard winters, or any other cause,
and are replaced by other varieties, cor
responding alterations should be made
in the map We found years ago, this
plan to work we'll
Now, if to this you add a good, dura-
Bile, legible and conspicuous label to
each tree, vine, bush or shrub, not only
yourself and your family will soon be
come familiar with varieties, but little
observation will enable anyone soon to
distinguish very many of them at sight
by the peculiarities of wood or growth.
One of the difficulties in this direction
is that if the labels are put on with
twine, single season rots it, and the
label is lost. Ifput ON with wire, sooner
or later it girdles the limb to which it is
attached
Various plans for marking have been
adopted from time to time, many of
them patented, and none of them are
especially valuable. Among the latest
labels we have seen are very small ones
of zinc, stamped with any name de-
sired. These are, of course, as lasting as
the metal itself, but they are inconspicu-
Gus, and, we think, preposterously high
in price. By fastening at one end a
strip of red flannel, or other light cloth,
either by punching and wiring, or, better
by leaving strip long enough so it
might be turned over and the cloth fast.
ened in the fold of metal; by painting,
or by the various other ways that will
easily suggest themselves, it would be
an improvement. The word various is
used because we wish to cover the whole
ground, SO that the average inventor
may not steal the idea and rush down to
the place where patent is given to any,
thing that carries the fee with it, Sc
this combination of metal and cloth,
paint, etc. insures both durability and
conspicuousness.
If the other end of the label be
| pierced, and wire attached, ending in
loop at the other end, through which
&c tack or very small brad may be put,
and driven into the tree; or, better again
| if something like a GLACIERS point,
pierced for the wire, be used, which may
| be easily driven into the smallest limb
or fastened in any way except around
the branch, we have very nearly perfec-
tion in this direction. We want again
to cover the ground against plant pat
ents, and thus you may have "a label be
| yond which little need be desired al
| least we found it six years ago, except
we used labels marked with indeliblC
ink on strong white cloth, which were
troublesome to write, and not all thai
could be desired in other respects.
When at the nursery of Arthur Bry
ant, Jr., near Princeton, Ill.,, last fail, We
saw system of labels in use there that
we considered invaluable. For the
ground stakes about eighteen inches
long were prepared, we think, with some
composition of gas tar, etc, so far as
they entered the ground The top was
| then soaked in oil and stenciled witt
common lampblack. The tree.lubel;
were slips of wood large enough to takl
a fairsized letter; they were soaked in
oil and then stenciled like the stakes
They were attached to trees by beinl
looped to limb with strong twin(
soaked like the labels in oil. Thus
looped on, of course there could be nj
danger of girding a limb or of damage
thereto by strangulation.
The question of imperishable woodeI
labels and how to make them so ha
long occupied scientific investigators
An excellent, cheap and simple plan i
given in the London Garden for rendering
wooden labels imperishable by partia
petrifaction artifcially
After the labels are made they ar
soaked in a strong solution of sulphat
of iron, then thoroughly dried and after
ward soaked in strong e-water-th
clear sclution-not milk of lime. In thi
they must remain until the lime-wate
has thoroughly permeated the pores o
the wood This insoluble sulphate 0
lime will be forced throughout the pore
of the wood, preventing the absorption
of water and consequent decay. Twin
for tying plants may be treated in a sim
liar manner Chicago Tribune,