Ill 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 Eose 

 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 at 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 



