416 SCIENCE OF GARDENING. Part II. 



growing so much to wood, and of course inclining it to become fruitful. (Ceded. Mem. 

 vol. i. 272.) Nicol suggests the same expedient in his Forcing and Fruit Gardener, 

 4th edit. p. 240. 



21 Q4. Cutting notches in the stem or branches has been tried on many occasions on 

 the same principle as cutting the roots. 



2165. Partial decortication is the removal of the bark already scaling off, covered with 

 mosses and lichens, or carbonised by the action of the atmosphere. It is only 

 applicable to old trees, or trees of a certain age, and the effect is to increase the vigor 

 of the tree, and thus promote the production of young wood and blossom-buds. It 

 was recommended by Arnaud d'Andilly, in 1650, and has been practised for several 

 years, by Forsyth, Lyon, and various others, on standard-trees, and by King, a com- 

 mercial gardener, at Teddington, on the vine. 



2166. Strippi?ig off pieces of the bark from the stem and branches is said by Marshall 

 to check the luxuriance, and promote the fruitfulness of pear-trees. (Introd. to Gard. &c. 

 4th edit. p. 156.) 



2167. Ringing the stem and branches, circumcision, or excision, &c. was known to 

 the Romans, and is mentioned by Virgil, Columella, &c. Among the moderns, it 

 seems to have been revived by Du Hamel in the beginning of the 18th century, more 

 especially in 1733, when he perfectly succeeded in rendering trees fruitful, and has given 

 an account of his experiments in the Memoires de V Academie des Sciences, A. D. 1788. 

 The subject has since been taken up by Suriray Delarue, and by Lancry ; the former of 

 whom has given an excellent history and rationale of the practice in the Journal 

 Physico-CEconomique for 1803. It is also ably treated in the Coxirs Complet d' Agri- 

 culture, &c. art. Bourrelet. The effect of ringing has been perfectly well known and 

 acted on in Holland and Germany since Du Hamel's time, as any one may be assured of 

 by the perusal of the works of Christ, Diederich, and Diel ; and it is remarkable, that 

 so late as 1815, A. Hempel, a clergyman of Saxony, should have published an account 

 of his practice in ringing, as new. The use of ringing would be, in all probability, 

 introduced into England soon after Du Hamel's experiments were published ; but 

 though it has been known and occasionally practised by some gardeners for upwards of 

 half a century, it seems not to have been generally known, either in 1817, when, judging 

 from a paper of Dr. Nohden, the subject was considered new in the Horticultural 

 Society ; or, in the end of last century-, when Dr. Darwin, in his Notes to Phytologia, 

 vol. i. p. 393, describes the practice, and accounts for its effects. It is now frequently 

 practised, both for the purpose of inducing blossoms on trees, or rendering them pro- 

 ductive; and for accelerating the maturity and increasing the size of fruits. The 

 former has been termed production-ringing, and the latter maturation-ringing. {Hart. 

 Trans, iv. 557.) Production-ringing should be performed in the spring, and will pro- 

 duce its effects in the following year : maturation-ringing when the plants are in blossom, 

 and it will show its effects the same season. 



2168. Maturation-ringing. Ringing has been found not only to induce blossom- 

 buds, but where these prove fertile, to increase the size and accelerate the ripening of 

 fruits. In a paper read before the Horticultural Society in 1808, Williams, of 

 Pitmaston, describes a mode of making annular excisions in the bark of vines. 

 These were made rather less than a quarter of an inch in width, that the exposed wood 

 might be covered again with bark by the end of autumrr. " Two vines of the 

 white Frontiniac, in similar 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 experimented 

 tree began evidently to swell faster than those on the other, and by the beginning of Sep- 

 tember showed indications of approaching ripeness, while the fruit of the unexperimented 

 tree continued green and small. In the beginning of October, the fruit on the tree that 

 had the bark removed from it was quite ripe, the other only just began to show a dis- 

 position to ripen, for the bunches were shortly afterwards destroyed by the autumnal 

 frosts. In every case in which circles of bark were removed, I invariably found that the 

 fruit not only ripened earlier, but the berries were considerably larger than usual, and 

 more highly flavored. Tne effects thus produced, I can account for only by adopting 

 Knight's theory of the downward circulation of the sap through the bark. It is not of 

 much consequence in what part of the tree the incision is made ; but in case the trunk is 

 very large, I should then recommend, that the circles be made in the smaller branches." 



2169. The operation of maturation-ringing should be deferred till the flowers are fully 

 expanded, or rather till they are passing into fruit, or even till the fruit is set. The sap, 

 being interrupted in its descent by the annular incision, is held in the bough, and thus 

 the fruit gains a more ready and uninterrupted supply of nourishment, the consequence 

 of which is not only an increase of size, but earlier maturity. This operation, besides, 

 may be serviceable in ripening the seeds of plants, which otherwise would not be per- 



