STOPPING THE LATERAL AXD SIDE SHOOTS. 



time as shown in fig. 20 at c, as also should the bunch or tendril, d t 

 found opposite the first or second leaf above the proper bunch. 



After this first pinching or stopping, the foremost buds seen in the 

 axils of the leaves again produce shoots, according to their vigour, as 

 shown in fig. 21. These second 

 shoots are called laterals, or summer 

 lateral shoots, as shoAvn in chap, ix., 

 fig, 13, E. They should be stopped 

 in the same way immediately beyond 

 the first leaf, as at fig. 2 la, and so 

 on again and again throughout the 

 season, as they may continue to grow. 



The leading shoot of a young Vine 

 is, of course, to be exempted from 

 this stopping, excepting in so far as 

 relates to the laterals it produces ; 

 and these, if space is limited, must 

 be stopped in the manner just ex- 

 plained, or they may be trained out 

 in the same manner as the proper 

 shoots, and allowed to extend and 

 occupy as much space as may be 

 available. It should always be borne 

 in mind, that the greater the quan- 

 tity of fully- developed leaves and 

 shoots, the more powerful must be 

 the root action and the more vigorous 

 the plant. The stopping of the shoots 

 of a Vine is not a checking or 

 repressing of its vigour, but rather a 

 guiding or directing of its energies into certain channels of a more 

 desirable and beneficial character than those they would follow if left 

 to themselves. 



Care must be taken that at the commencement of the colouring 

 period the shoots are all kept properly stopped. At this period the 

 greatest caution is necessary that no check should be sustained by the 

 respiratory organs of the Vine, which a sudden stripping of the leaves 

 might cause, with the probable result of inducing shanking or some 

 other evil. If, through neglect, the shoots may have grown somewhat 

 long and become confused, it is better to leave them so until the fruit 

 is coloured and ripe, and the critical period is past, than to remove 

 a great number at one time. 



Fig. 21. LATERAL SHOOT OF VINE, 

 showing the mode of stopping. 



