III SITUATION AND SOIL 37 
get strong and heavy, and the whole plant thus 
absolutely destroyed, unless they are carefully and 
constantly tied up to stakes; and moreover these 
ties must be looked to and renewed even quite up 
to the autumn, as a strong head is seldom safe from 
being blown out till it has been pruned in the 
following spring. 
Where there are many standards, and the stakes 
have not been examined, and renewed where 
necessary at pruning time, every morning after a 
gale will probably show several of the supporting 
stakes snapped off close to the ground, and the Rose 
plant being injured at the root by swinging in the 
wind. Not only must a new stake be supplied, but 
the old stump must be extracted without disturbing 
the plant; for old decaying wood has, especially in 
some soils, a tendency to promote the growth of 
a fungus which is injurious to the roots. The 
operation, which looks hopeless, can generally be 
satisfactorily performed with an old pair of garden 
shears, which will grip the top of the half-rotten 
stump, and then, by a downward pressure on the 
handles, lever it out like drawing a tooth. This, 
however, should not be necessary with bamboo 
stakes, which are much more reliable and lasting 
than those of English wood. Every stake should 
be cut loose and pulled out of the ground every year 
at pruning time, and then held at the top and 
struck smartly on the ground. If it does not break, 
it will last another year, but even a strong sound 
bamboo, at the end of the second year, is nearly 
sure to break right across at the critical point, 
which is the exact line of the surface of the soil 
