284 SOME SPECIFIC ADVICE 



an abundance of foliage, else there will be insuf- 

 ficient food to support the fruit. 



Gaucher remarks* that "the width of the bark 

 to be removed from the whole circumference of the 

 shoot or branch varies between three and five milli- 

 meters [a millimeter is .039 inch, hence one -tenth 

 to two -tenths inch]. Wider than this, the cut 

 should not be made, as otherwise it is to be feared 

 the wound would remain open all summer and 

 bring about the death of the part above the cut." 

 "If performed extensively upon a tree," writes 

 Lindley,t ringing "is very apt, if not to kill it, 

 at least to render it incurably unhealthy; for if 

 the rings are not sufficiently wide to cut off all 

 communication between the upper and lower lips 

 of the wound they produce little effect, and if 

 they are, they are difficult to heal." 



In 1893 the writer made a symposium! on ring- 

 ing grapes, most of which is here reprinted: 



" Grapes can be made to ripen earlier and to grow larger 

 if the vine is girdled in early summer. Many fruit -plants 

 have been girdled or ringed for centuries, but the utility of 

 the practice is still in dispute. A mere narrow girdle or 

 incision around the trunk may cause an apple or pear tree 

 to come into bearing, and as the wound heals over in a few 

 weeks, probably no harm can result. But the section of 

 bark removed from the grape vine is so large that the wound 

 never heals, and the whole cane is cut away at the annual 

 winter pruning. The renewal wood of the vine is not 



*Die Veredelungeu, 364. 



t Theory of Horticulture, Amer. ed. 255. 



^American Gardening, xiv. 74-80. 



