ON EARLY RIPENING OF ORAPEf, J yf 



each, and thus leaving the naked alburnum above an inch 



in width completely exposed ; this was done in the months 



of June and July, The following autumn the fruit grow-. occasioned th* 



ing on these trees came to great perfection, having ripened fruil tori P^ n 



from a fortnight to three weeks earlier than usual : but in 



the succeeding spring, the vines did not shoot with their 



accustomed vigour, and I found that i had injured them 



by exposing the alburnum unnecessarily. 



Last summer these experiments were repeated ; at the end The experi- 

 of July and beginning of August , 1 took annular excisions mentre i ,ea > 

 of bark from the trunks of several of my vines, and that 

 the exposed alburnum might be again covered with new 

 bark by the eudt>f autumn, the removed circles were made 

 rather less than a quarter of an inch in width. Two vines 

 of the white Fronthiiac, in similiar states of growth, being 

 trained near to each other on a south wall, were selected 

 for trial; one of these was experimented on (if I may use 

 the term), the other was left in its natural state, to form a 

 standard of comparison. When the circle of bark had 

 been removed about a fortnight, the berries on the experi- 

 mented tree began evidently to swell faster than those on 

 the other, and by the beginning of September showed indi- 

 cations of approaching ripeness, while the fruit of the un- 

 experimented tree continued green and small. In the be- the froit ripsn» 



ginning of October the fruit on the tree that had the bark ed ^ llie ^». and 



t r. , ... impio-ved ia 



removed horn, it, was quite ripe, the otner only just began s j z e and 



to show a disposition to ripen, for the bunches were shortly fl^T»*». 



afterwards destroyed by the autumnal frosts. In every 



case in which envies cf bark were removed, I invariably 



found that the fruit not only ripened earlier, but the 



berries were considerably larger than usual, and more highly 



flavoured. 



The effects thus produced I can account for ouly by Theory of the 



adopting Mr. Knight's theory of the downward circulation process. 



of the sap, the truth of which these experiments, in my 



opinion, tend strongly to confirm. I therefore imagine by 



cutting through the cortex and liber without wounding the 



alburnum, that the descent of that portion of the sup which 



has undergone preparation in the leaf is obstructed and 



confined in the branches situate above the incision ; 



N sequontly 





