Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-12-31
THE BEST LABELS ADOPTED
FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF PLANTS

s. Il ID the least desirable because of it's
& short life This is particularly true of
the small label used in pots in the
greenhouse and to mark herbaceous
and annual plants out of doors. So
short-lived are they that they hardly
last season, and long before they
+ are gone they become undecipher-
able. Moreover, they are easily lost.
Paper labels in bottles and porcelain
labels have been used many times, es-
pecially by amateurs, but, beins
easily broken. have proved unsatis1
4 factory.
~ IN the attempt to make permanent
garden labels nearly all kinds of met
ais in various forms have been used,
but none has proved nearly so etfi-
cient--long-lived easily read and
changed-as has the zinc label. So
satisfactory has it proved itself that
Il has been adopted in nearly all
large gardens where permanency and
accuracy are desired. 1t can be
bought or made into any form which
is appropriate for the plants to be
labeled, and 1t is very easily written
upon.
The simplest form of zinc label can
be made by writing upon it with a
soft lead pencil; the zinc should be
take hold. Such labels are easily
read close by for long term of years,
but because of their not being sur
ficlent contrast between the zinc and
the mark they cannot be read at any
distance. Labels near the surface OF
the ground cannot be easily read
when one is standing up.
The best way to mark upon the
zinc Is with a solution of platinum
tetrachloride. This chemical comes in
a crystal form and costs about slS an
ounce, but a very small amount will
20 q long way, and such precious
salts as these can be purcnaseo
through any drug store In very small
amounts The last time l purchased
any Qast year, / bought hfteen
grains. This l put into four ounces
OF water. It made sufficient writing
fluid to supply me for several years.
Another and cheaper solution, but
one which 1 have not tried can be
made of one ounce of blue vitriol,
one ounce sal ammoniac and -FOUR
ounces of vinegar. In this the cop
per replaces the platinum.
The solution of platinum tetra-
chloride is used just as If 1t were ink.
A steel pen can be used, but 1t cor
rodes the pen rapidly, and some OF
the strength of the fluid Is lost while
on the pen. If one has only a FEW
labels to write, q sharp-pointed STICK
can be used, but a glass stylus Will
prove more satisfactory-such a stylus
as IL used for marking linen with in
delible ink When employed at the
Missouri Botanical Garden, at 81.
Louis. where thousands OF these labels
we're made In the course of year, l
used the smallest-sized gold pen, such
as can be purchased for a dollar. 1t
proved far more satisfactory than the
glass stylus, because 1t fed better.
The only drawback I'm using the gold
pen was that the point seemed to col
lect the fine dust from the surface OF
the label. and made hard mass at
d. the point, SO that the pen could not
work properly. This was easily re-
moved, however and the coating was
very slow to collect.
Zinc. to be written upon with plat
mum tetrachloride. must be abso-
lntely clean. To accomplish this, use
the finest grades of emery cloth and
polish the label as bright as possible.
AS lines are necessary on the label to
guide one In writing, | found that u
the emery cloth was rubbed at right
angles to the line of writing, a very
faint but distinct line could be made
on the label by means of sharp
pointed instrument. I used q wire
nail sharpened to 40 fine point; have
also used the sharp point of a knife
blade. These family scratched lines
will disappear when the surface of
the label corrodes by the action of the
cir.
Although the solution of platinum
tetrachloride is yellow, it corodes the
zinc Immediately upon coming in con-
tact with it. so that the effect is as
though one were writing with black
Ink. This makes an indestructible
label. / have seen labels that have
been in use out of doors for many
years that have been just as readable
as the day they were put there. l
found, however, considerable dtffi-
Guilty in cleaning them.
The easiest way to clean the labels
for rewriting is to polish them off on
4 very fine-grained grindstone: but
the action of the weather, In corrod-
ing the zinc labels face wears away
the zinc all around the lettering.
q ing the letters raised. 1t takes a
4. cat deal of grinding to clean labels
Ain long use, and even then there Is
such difference in the texture of the
zinc that the old name is deciphsr-
able
The form OF label to use will vary
with the kinds of plants that are be-
Ing marked. For plants in five-inch
pots, or less, or for seeds in rows, in
cold-frames or other seed-beds, a
label made from sheet-zinc seven
eighths of an inch wide and five to
five and one-half inches long will be
+, found most serviceable. 1t should be
pointed at one end, and the sharp
corners cut oft the other end. Such
/, falaI 10 x,ida enough for fhree rows
OF lettering that can be read at arms
length.
For plants in six-inch pots, or
larger, and for herbaceous plants of
all sorts and small shrubs Out-of-
doors, there is a pfessed-zinc label
which has a shank eight inches long
and an oval face three by one and
one-quarter inches. which is very de-
!, sirable. They cost two cents apiece.
ire is room on this label for three
ss4nls OF lettering which will be large
enough for one to read easily when
standing up, when the labels are used
out-of-d doors. The shank is long
enough so that about six inches OF
ii can be run into the ground, to
make sure of its not being knocked
over, and still the face OF the label
is far enough from the ground to pre-
vent its becoming covered with earth
thrown up by the patterings of heavy
rains When used in pots, 1t has al
ways been my custom to cut off the
shank to about three inches in length
and flatten it out-for the shank is
triangular in shape-so that IL can
easily be forced down between the
soil and the inside OF the pot. This
label Is the product OF an amateur
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