CHAPTER  VIII
 

               Staking or  other Means  of Support.



The artificial  support  of trees is mainly a concomitant of transplanting.

Trees grown on without  removal from the spot where the seed was sown,

or even those  given  permanent  places  when quite young,  rarely need

support.   It is the tree that has attained a considerable size and then

been torn from its anchorage that requires artificial assistance to withstand

storms.  The sooner a  tree,  and  to a  less extent,  a  shrub, is given  its

permanent place the better, consistent  with its safety  and .capability of

holding its own among other plants.

   A tree, say 6 ft. or  more high, planted  in an exposed position must

often be given  support, unless it  has been shifted with a heavy mass of

soil attached to its roots.   If the  plant  has been removed without soil,

the usual  support  is afforded by  a stake  proportionate  in  length and

thickness to the main stem of the tree, and driven  firmly into the ground.

Some  regard  must be  paid  to the avoidance of  injury to the roots in

driving in the stake.  It must be well sharpened, so that it forces its way

between the roots  a little distance from the stem, rather than  crushes

through them.  It is an excellent plan  to drive  in  the stake  before  the

tree  is planted and arrange  the roots  around it.  It  is only  necessary,

especially if the soil has been trenched deeply, to see that in the inevitable

settling of  the soil  the ties  do  not  cause the tree  to  be suspended

rather than settle naturally with the soil.

   A stake should not go any higher than necessary.  It  is by no means

an object of beauty, and should be as unobtrusive as possible.   The chief

aim  is  to  keep the  stem perfectly steady  at  the base until the roots

themselves are capable  of doing  it.  If a newly planted tree is allowed to

sway about  so that the base of  its stem forms a  socket  in  the soil,  its

progress will be  slow  and  its  appearance  ungainly.  A  short,  stout

stake standing  3 ft. out of the ground will prevent this better than a longer

thin  one.   (The use  of a stake for  straightening the  crooked stem of a

young tree by bracing the two together is a quite different object.)   Some

soft  or elastic  substance should be inserted between  the tying material

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