TYING DOWN THE SHOOTS : CAUSES OF THEIR BREAKING. 53 



off the higher or top buds, which will induce the lower ones to break 

 stronger. Again, if it has been forgotten to prune a Vine or shoot 

 until it has become too late to do so on account of the risk of bleeding, 

 the neglect may, to some extent, be rectified by a careful rubbing off 

 of the buds, as soon as they may appear, back to the point where the 

 shoot ought to have been pruned to ; and then, when the leaves are 

 about fully developed, the sap of the Vine will be sufficiently diverted, 

 .and the shoot may be pruned with safety. 



Following closely on the operation of disbudding comes that of 

 ty ing-down and stopping the shoots. The young shoots of a Vine, 

 especially when they are growing vigorously, are exceedingly tender 

 and easily broken, so that the work of tying them down into their 

 proper position on the wires or trellis to which the Vines are trained 

 for they naturally grow upwards towards the glass requires a great 

 amount of care and patience When they are found to be at all 

 brittle, they must only be inclined or drawn down a little at one 

 time, and so gradually bent or guided into the right position. 

 Practically, however, it is not advisable to tie the shoots very early ; 

 if the leaves are allowed to expand a little, and the shoots to get 

 some of their woody fibre developed, they will be found to bend pretty 

 freely into the desired form without breaking. 



In reference to stopping the shoots, our illustration, fig. 20, shows 

 the upper portion of a young Vine-shoot, with its bunch of flowers, 

 which is eventually to become a cluster of berries, as it would appear 

 at this stage. The stopping is requisite in order to keep the growth 

 within certain limits, and thus to prevent overcrowding and a con- 

 fusion of the shoots. According to the spur system, the main stems 

 being from four to five feet apart, the side- shoots, on which the fruit 

 is borne, cannot be allowed to extend to more than two and a half 

 feet in length, otherwise they, must overlap each other. But often in 

 fact, the length of the shoots has to be regulated by the position of 

 the bunch. The usual practice is to stop them at two joints beyond 

 the bunch, as shown at a in our figure, or at one joint beyond, 5, if 

 there is not space for a greater extension. Practically, the longer 

 these shoots can be allowed to grow without stopping the better, 

 as the greater the quantity of fully-developed first leaves, the greater 

 the amount of vigour induced. The operation itself should be 

 performed as soon as the shoot attains the requisite length, and is done 

 simply by pinching off the tip, at the point indicated, fig, 20a, between 

 the finger and thumb, before it has become fully developed. There is 

 thus nothing, or scarcely anything, to take off, no denuding of the 

 Vine of a portion of its foliage, and no consequent check to its 

 growth. It is a very bad practice indeed to allow the shoots to grow 

 to such a length as to render it necessary to use the knife in stopping 

 them. This is a great waste of the Vine's resources. The tendril 

 forming a part of the bunch 'of fruit should be pinched off at the same 



