The Garden Under Glass

STAKING AND TYING 271 to pass it once right round the stake. Plenty of room must be allowed for the swelling of the brauch. To tie so tightly that no allowance is made for an increase in the circum-ference or diameter of the branch is a far too common mistake. Mistakes in Staking and Tying Unless timely tying is practised the appearance of the plants will be spoiled. There is scarcely any sadder sight in a garden than the attempt to bring into shape plants which, through being allowed to fall and lop about, have their growth anything but upright. In tying Chrysanthemums, for instance, it is a frequent error to niake the tie some six inches from the point of the shoot, whereas it should be made as high up the shoot as possible, so that considerable growth must be made before another tie is needed. Failure to drive the stake well into the soil, or, in the case of pot plants, right down to the crocks, is frequent, and the consequences may be readily imagined. It only needs mention to show what a disastrous mistake it is to drive a stake through a plant, as could easily be done in the case of lilies and other plants of a bulbous nature. To use stakes out of proportion to the size of the plant, to tie too loosely, to put in the stake obliquely (except sometimes with pot plants), to leave long ends to the tie, to pull the plant out of shape, to crowd the growths, to enclose the leaves, to tie branch to branch instead of to the stake, to use crooked or knotty stakes—these are some of the mistakes which must be avoided. Special Devices Being rather a tiresome and laborious work, it is small wonder that many have exercised their inventive genius