New York Agricultural Experiment Station. fi21 



seemed to be hardening into bark over all the wounds. By mid- 

 summer, however, growth had stopped and little or no new bark was 

 evident either on the cherries or plums. The cut edges from many- 

 wounds showed growth in the nature of a callus and from these oc- 

 casionally would extend at right angles short strips of new bark almost 

 meeting at the center of the rings. But the wounds never entirely 

 closed. As the season advanced much of the newly formed bark died. 

 Tree growth became stunted. The foliage began losing color and the 

 general vigor of all the trees seemed impaired. The 15-year-old plum 

 trees set a small crop of fruit in 1912. At the time of harvesting no 

 difference could be found in size and color of the fruit from ringed and 

 from unringed trees. The flavor of fruit from ringed trees, however, 

 seemed not to be so good and the flesh was less juicy. No fruit was 

 borne on the Montmorency cherries or the Bradshaw plums in 1912. 

 At the close of the growing season 80 per ct. of all the trees were with- 

 out living bark covering the wounds. Usually the woody cells were 

 bare and often they were black and spotted indicating fungus diseases. 

 One cherry .tree showed a considerable portion of the wound to be per- 

 fectly healed, but this tree lacked the vigor of the unringed trees. 

 Both the cherry and plum foliage fell from the ringed trees from four 

 to five weeks earlier than from the checks. In case the trees were 

 ringed on the trunks the whole tree was in a weakened condition, but 

 where branches only were ringed, these and not the whole tree were 

 low in vitality. Out of all the trees ringed but one, a Montmorency 

 cherry, made any material growth the following season. All of the 

 other cherries and all of the plums which were not entirely dead failed 

 to make more than a start; before summer, all were dead. The Mont- 

 morency cherry mentioned, while making fair growth, was by no 

 means as vigorous as unringed trees. An examination of the root sys- 

 tems of the ringed trees showed that they were smaller, shorter and 

 less dense than those of check trees. This was particularly true of 

 the younger trees. With the older plum trees but little difference 

 could be found. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The results obtained from these experiments are not favorable to 

 ringing fruit trees as a general practice. Under some conditions, for 

 a limited time, a more favorable outcome might be expected. Hardy, 

 vigorous, young apple trees may readily undergo a single ringing and 



