128 



This is similar to the mode of pruning illustrated in Figs. 39, 40, 

 but differs from it in there being no short or wood spur left at the 

 base of the long or fruit rod ; the shoots resulting from the develop- 

 ment of a and/* will pro vide fresh fruit rods for the ensuing year. As 

 we saw Cp. 116), under ordinary circumstances these buds would not 

 develop themselves ; only those in c, d, e, h, and t would produce 

 shoots fit to form leaders. By carefully nipping these before flowering 

 time their growth is slightly checked, and the buds a and /, which 

 would otherwise have remained latent, are caused to give rise to two 

 shoots which will constitute leaders for the next year. This system 

 gives good results in France, but the difficulty of executing this 

 nipping at a proper time and manner on a large scale in a country 

 where skilled vignerons are scarce renders it unsuitable for Australia. 

 The nipping of fruit shoots on vines trained on wire in the ordinary 

 way might with advantage be practised on sorts which are liable to 

 set badly at flowering time, a week or so before this important function 

 takes place, should the benefit derived from it justify the extra 

 expense it would entail. 



Annular Incision. Although this cannot be recommended as one 

 of the ordinary vineyard operations, it deserves mention, and might in 

 certain cases be employed with advantage. Its object is to prevent 

 the non-setting of the flowers, and it consists in removing a ring of 

 bark, as narrow as possible, from the base of a fruit-bearing shoot, just 

 before flowering ; or in removing a similar ring of bark before the end 

 of the winter from near the base of the leader which is to bear the 

 fruit-growing shoots. It seems to act, like most other operations 

 which tend to diminish the non-setting, by weakening the vine, and 

 should not be too extensively practised. It presents the disadvantage 

 of rendering shoots thus treated very liable to break off under the 

 influence of wind. 



Although the operation may be performed with a small pruning- 

 knife, special instruments are manufactured for the purpose, with 

 which it is possible to treat many vines in a short time. On the 

 whole, although good results have resulted from this operation, it is 

 not employed anywhere on a large scale. 



Stripping the leaves of the vine before vintage time, so as to 

 facilitate the ripening of the grapes, is never necessary in either the 

 second or third regions of the colony ; in the cooler parts of the first 



