This is such an important operation that we must give it a paragraph to itself. You must try from the beginning to tie up your plants when they require it, and to do it in a workmanlike way, but you will often find it a difficult and troublesome thing to do well. We once saw an amusing picture in a gardening book of how not to tie up a plant, and many a time have we remembered it after a hot and weary struggle with our own. Some plants are more easily and successfully supported by the branched stakes that need no ties; but heavy plants, such as Dahlias, Sunflowers, and Michaelmas Daisies, require strong pointed sticks, either those cut from trees or the square green ones to be bought in towns. You should hammer your stake firmly in just _behind_ the plant. Never drive one straight through its heart. Consider to what height your plant will grow, and do not mind if the stake is too tall just at first. Tie it carefully with raffia, or, if you want something stronger, with thin cord. Roughly speaking, we should say that raffia is strong enough for plants that can be supported by the little round stakes sold in bundles, but that plants needing the square Dahlia stakes also need strong ties. If you support your plants while they are young, you must look at them from time to time, because as they spread and grow they will want fresh ties and sometimes fresh stakes. A spreading, top-heavy plant often needs three or four stakes to support it properly. You will not think your trouble has been thrown away, however, when you find that a three-days storm has not done much damage to your garden, because your plants were so carefully prepared for it. CHAPTER IV BULBS, CORMS, AND TUBERS A TRUE bulb has a series of layers, or scales. An onion is a bulb, and so is a Hyacinth; so are Lilies, though of a different kind. A Crocus, a Gladiolus, and a bulbous Iris, are all corms. They are solid, and could not be pulled to pieces in scales. A tuber is a thick fleshy root that increases as the plant grows, and ripens when it has done growing. Dahlias and Begonias have roots of this kind; so have many Anemones and many wild flowers. Certain tubers are good to eat. You have one kind for dinner whenever you have Potatoes, and another kind when you have Jerusalem Artichokes.