1875. ] 
VINES AND VINE-CULTURE.-CHAPTER VII. 
113 
order to keep the plant within certain limits, and thus to prevent overcrowding 
and a confusion of the shoots. According to the spur system, the main stems 
being from 3 ft. to 4 ft. apart, the side-shoots, on which the fruit is borne, can¬ 
not be allowed to extend to more than 2 ft. in length, or otherwise they must 
overlap each other. But in fact, the length of shoot has to be regulated by the 
position of the bunch. The usual practice is to stop it 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 could be allowed to grow 
before stopping them the better, if there is space for the growth so left to go on for 
the season, as the greater the quantity of fully-developed leaves, the greater the 
amount of vigour induced. - The operation itself, at the point where it becomes 
Fia. 9 .—Lateral Siioot of Vine, showing the mode of stopping. 
necessary, should be performed as soon as the shoot attains the requisite length, 
and is done simply by pinching it, at the point indicated, 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 con¬ 
sequent check to its growth. It is 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 .vital energies of the plant. The tendril forming 
a part of the bunch of fruit should be pinched off at the same time at c, as also 
should the bunch or tendril (d) 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. 9. 
L 
