New York Agricultural Experiment Station* 511 



The effect sought in ringing is to produce earlier ripening of 

 the fruit and larger bunches and berries. The explanation of this 

 effect on the fruit is readily found when the movement of the food 

 within the plant is understood. The food materials taken in by 

 the roots pass up through the outer layers of wood to the green 

 parts of the plant. Here new material for growth is formed and 

 the portion that is not needed by the leaves and other green parts 

 passes downward, for the most part through the inner bark, to be 

 be distributed wherever it is needed. The wood is not disturbed 

 in the process of ringing, therefore the upward movement of the 

 solutions is not interfered with; but since the downward passage 

 takes place through the inner bark the flow is arrested when it 

 arrives at the point where the bark has been removed. Conse- 

 quently the parts of the plants that are above the point where the 

 ring of bark has been removed receive more than a normal supply 

 of food, which tends to produce increase in size and earlier ripening 

 of the fruit 



It will be seen that the food that passes into the ringed arms is 

 mostly lost so far as building up the plant itself is concerned, 

 hence the operation must result in a drain on the plant's vitality. 

 However, in localities where ringing is extensively practiced, vine- 

 yards are freqentlly pointed out that have beien ringed 10 or 15 

 years in succession and are still yielding paying crops. Growers 

 have learned to do the work intelligently. For instance, where the 

 vines are grown on the two-arm Kniffin system the ring of bark is 

 commonly taken. from both arms just beyond the fifth bud. It 

 has been found that the ten buds that are left to the vine produce 

 enough leaf surface to supply the food necessary to keep the vine in 

 a vigorous condition, providing the vineyard has received proper 

 care. Where the four-arm Kniffin system is used some growers 

 ring the two top arms only, leaving three or four buds on each 

 for renewal. The two lower arms, it is claimed, will bear as good 

 fruit as adjacent vines that have not been ringed. With the 



