Regarding the objection that the eyelet hole in a zinc label soon wears away when it is suspended by a copper wire, I have used them for some years and, as I understand it, the wearing is not from galvanic action but from the label swinging loosely in the wind. To prevent this I have practiced - before attaching the label to the tree - giving the ends of the copper wire a twist of one or two turns close down above the label. This simply prevents the label swinging on the wire; where it hangs loosely the almost unceasing vibrating in the wind soon wears it away. I would add - although it has already been given in Gardeners' Monthly - that the best thing for marking zinc labels, especially where they are exposed to the weather, is a common lead pencil. The material of the pencil soon corrodes the surface of the metal and the marking becomes almost as lasting as the metal. In this case the corrosion may be caused by galvanic action, due to the carbon of the plumbago; burying the label in the earth does not obliterate the marking but increases the corrosive action.

This using of a pencil the writer accidentally discovered in 1847, while using zinc labels, with ink, according to a recipe on page 575 of the Horticulturist of that year - getting out of the ink in the hurry of planting, a pencil was used. Newark, N. K, April 4. [In case there should be any possible objection, our correspondent sends us a label with a galvanized eyelet inserted, as the metallic ones are in ordinary parchment tags. - Ed. G. M].