66 POMOLOGY 



such a practice was not to be recommended. The work was 

 repeated the following season with twenty-seven of the 

 trees, but the second ringing did not result in again stimu- 

 lating fruit-bud formation, for while these particular trees 

 averaged 93 per cent of a crop to a tree in 1911, they yielded 

 only 43 per cent in 1912. Again the following year these 

 same trees were ringed in June. This thne rings of 3, 6, 9, 

 12, 15, 18, and 21 inches in width were made, four trees being 

 used for each of the various widths. These wounds were 

 made around the trunks just above the former rings, all of 

 the bark, whether in three-inch or twenty-one-inch strips, 

 being removed with equal ease. This ringing had no effect 

 on stimulating fruit-bud production, for the crop borne in 

 1913 was about the same as that of 1912. Injurious effects 

 were experienced in the vigor of the trees, however, and 

 the wider the bands the more serious the injury. 



The practice of ringing cannot be applied to stone-fruits 

 as they are practically always killed as a result of the oper- 

 ation, no new tissue being formed over the decorticated area. 



In the work of Alderman and Auchter ^ with seven-year- 

 old standard trees, the usual results were secured but the 

 succeeding year the treated trees produced little or no fruit. 

 They state at the conclusion of the experiment that: ''From 

 the results of our observations, ringing plainly checks the 

 vigor of the tree for at least three years and although it has 

 been successful in causing trees to bear the year following the 

 operation, this bearing has not been established as a habit." 



Hence from the work here considered and from that of 

 others ^ it is seen that ringing apple trees at the proper time 



1 W. Va. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 158. 



2Sorauer, P. Physiology of Plants. (Eng. Trans.) pp. 159-164. 

 Paddock, W. N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 151. Daniel, L. Compt. 

 Rend. Acad. Sci. (Paris) i,'^/;1253-1255. 1900. Sablon, Leclerc du. 

 Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. (Paris) / 40. -1553- 1555. 1905. 



