185 



into the stem tends to hasten the death of the tree; but it is not, 

 as a rule, an economical system. First, by cutting into the sap- 

 wood, the rise of sap is arrested ; not being able to get up to the 

 leaves, it causes a dense mass of shoots to grow below the cut. 

 These often take two stripping operations before the stump is 

 killed. Second — the cutting into the wood, especially in young 

 trees under 8 inches in diameter, causes them to be so weakened 

 that the first gale breaks them off. The result is double work 

 getting rid of the shoots, and also the fallen tree. It must be ad- 

 mitted that the tree-top often does die very quickly after this style 

 of work ; but as it is the roots that have to be killed, and as it 

 fails to do so, it cannot be recommended. "More haste less 

 speed," is very applicable to ring-barking. Where trees of. a large 

 size have to be operated on, say 2 feet and over in diameter, what 

 is often permissible, and, in fact, preferable, is to "chip-ring," i.e. 

 cut well into the sapwood ; the death of the tree is speedy, and 

 only in a few cases do shoots grow. The reasons for this are : A 

 large or old tree has fewer dormant buds existing on the lower 

 portion of the stem. The dormant buds are very numerous in 

 young trees, and lie under the bark. It is one of nature's provi- 

 sions to enable a tree to recover in case of accident. In aged trees 

 the germs of the buds may be buried by successive growths of 

 wood, and the bark is thicker, especially near the ground. Again, 

 an aged tree makes very little height, or circumference growth 

 annually. Its energy is chiefly concentrated on the production of 

 seed. This seed bearing is a severe tax on a tree, so much so, 

 that, after bearing a crop, it takes two or more years to recover 

 enough material to enable it to bear another. Therefore, when a 

 tree of this description is ringed, it is not in a state to bear the 

 shock, and a speedy death results. It often happens that an old 

 tree, in spite of chip-ringing, still continues to live. This is 

 caused by the existence of what is known as " internal bark." 

 When a tree has been severely wounded, and has renewed the 

 bark over the place, decay will often comrr.ence under the bark 

 on the wounded surface. The new bark will, so to speak, follow 

 the decay trying to cover it, and, although the external appear- 

 ance shows no indication of this and even after ringing it cannot 

 be perceived, a strip of bark exists that connects the top and bot- 

 tom of the cut. This is sufficient to upset all calculations, and if 

 not rectified will enable the tree to make a good recovery. The 

 only method is to fell a tree of this description. From the pre- 

 ceding remarks it may be gathered that in the case of young trees 

 full of vitality, ring-barking is best, as it does not prevent the sap 

 rising, and therefore enables the roots to exhaust themselves ; but 

 it allows no additional nourishment to return to them. In aged 

 trees chip-ringing is permissible, the tree does not possess vitality 

 or nutritive material enough to cope with the shock it receives. 



WHEN TO RING-BARK. 



This is undoubtedly the most important part of the operation. 

 There can be no question, that the time for doing it is when the 



