122 TREATMENT OF THE 



every respect as directed for similar shoots, 

 in the instructions laid down for the second 

 year. 



When the leading upright shoot has at- 

 tained about fifteen inches in length, let the 

 end be pinched off, so as to leave it about 

 eleven inches long. This stopping will cause 

 some shoots to be produced from the upper 

 part of the lead which was stopped ; it also 

 considerably strengthens the side shoots* 

 which are to be the future branches of the 

 tree. 



Three of the shoots which proceed from 

 the new wood, and were produced by stop- 

 ping the lead, must be trained in; the up- 

 permost straight up the wall, and the others, 

 one on each side the stem of the lead. 



The stopping of the leading branch as here 

 directed, must not be deferred later than the 

 end of June, or early in July ; for when it is 

 done much later than this time, those shoots 

 which push afterwards in that season, do not 

 arrive at a sufficient degree of maturity to 

 withstand the effects of winter, and frequently 

 are destroyed by frost. But if done as early 

 as directed, the wood attains to a proper de- 

 gree of hardness, so as not to be injured ma- 

 terially by the severest weather. 



When it happens that a tree has not done 

 well in the early part of the season, and the 

 upright shoot is not of a suitable length at 

 the proper period for stopping it, it should 



