New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 615 



woody plants in order to determine the distribution of the reserve 

 plant juices contained therein. Hedrick, Taylor and Wellington, 8 in 

 a bulletin from this Station, found that ringing herbaceous plants was 

 so deleterious to their growth that it could not be advocated for 

 general practice. The loss to the plants was great and there proved 

 to be little or no compensating gain. 



The object of the experiments herein reported was to determine, if 

 possible, the extent to which fruit trees can be ringed without per- 

 manent injury and in what degree, if at all, the operation induces and 

 stimulates fruitfulness. Apples, pears, plums and cherries were the 

 species used in these experiments. The work was started in 1910 and 

 was carried on during the three succeeding years. 



Ringing should be performed early in June or July, at which 

 time the bark peels readily from the wood leaving the cambium in a 

 succulent condition. The success of the operation hinges upon the 

 fact that at this season of the year occurs the greatest cambial activity 

 which readily facilitates the rapid formation of new bark and at the 

 same time prevents exhaustive evaporation ©f plant juices. Any 

 attempt to practice ringing when plant growth is sluggish or dormant 

 always results in the death of the tree, since the cambium, being then 

 firm, is torn from the woody cylinder during the operation. A com- 

 mon pruning knife or a sharp pocket knife is a suitable instrument for 

 performing the operation. The rings were made of varying widths 

 and were cut either at the base of the trunk or upon branches close to 

 their union with the trunk. In one case narrow rings were made 

 around the trunks at different distances from the surface of the ground. 



RINGING APPLES. 



In 1910 there were growing upon the Station grounds 122 seedling 

 trees five years from planting, which up to this time had borne little 

 or no fruit. Early in June, 1910, a band of bark one inch in width 

 was removed from the trunk of each of these trees, just above the 

 surface of the ground. These were normal, vigorous young trees, free 

 from insect pests and diseases, and all were making a strong, thrifty 

 growth. All received similar treatment as to cultivation and pruning. 

 New bark began to form within a few days after ths ringing and at 

 the end of the growing season all of the wounds were entirely covered 

 with new, healthy bark. As far as could be noticed, none of the trees 



•Hedrick, U. P., etai. N. Y. Sta. Bui. 288. 1907. 



