182 
CHILDREN'S GARDENS 
VI 
form the handles, or sometimes even the whole 
stick, and have knots and joints close together, 
are really part of the rhizomes or underground 
stems. 
All the different kinds of roots—the fine 
hair-like fibres and the straight tap-root where 
it exists—are of the greatest importance, as 
through them the rest of the plant draws out 
of the soil all the good properties by which it 
lives. In very hot countries, where there is 
a rainy season and then a long period of 
drought, plants have very large bulbs, so as 
to store moisture to keep them alive during 
the dry months. The nourishment they get 
through their roots is as necessary to plants as 
food is to animals, so in putting them into the 
ground every care should be taken not to 
break or bruise the roots, or when lifting not 
to cut the roots with the spade. One must 
dig a little distance from the plant, or loosen 
the soil and raise it gently with a fork, and in 
replanting spread out the fibres carefully, or 
make a deep enough hole to take the long tap¬ 
root or tubers. The plant thus tenderly taken 
care of will well repay any extra trouble by 
growing proportionately better. 
As the roots are constantly getting nourish¬ 
ment out of the soil, in time they want more 
than the ground can supply them with, and 
