226 Review of Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. 



which the leaves derive from the air. We will not say in what respects 

 this nonrishment differs from that which the tree derives from its roots ; 

 but we will remark that nature ])rovides abundance of leaves for those 

 buds which she intends to produce flowers. 



" Peach and apricot trees will not bear ringing, because they always 

 produce their fruit on the young wood ; and the vine still less, because it 

 bears on the growing shoot. Ring-ing does not advance the fructification 

 of either plum trees or young cherry trees ; and it is apt to produce the 

 gum in old trees of the latter species, as the wound is a long time before it 

 heals. Apple trees shrivel above the ring ; and, if they live, they do not 

 soon bear any fruit. The pear tree thus remains the only species of 

 fruit tree on which the operation of ringing can be practised with ad- 

 vantage. 



"Ringing may be performed at any season, but it only produces its full 

 effect when undertaken in the spring, at the first appearance of the move- 

 ment of the sap, and as soon as the bark begins to crack. The wound 

 ought not to be wider than the thickness of the blade of a knife, if it is 

 desired that it should heal before the end of the season. The opera- 

 tion ought to be performed on a side branch which is rather stronger 

 and more elevated than its neighbors ; or one which is badly placed, 

 and which, in the end, may be removed without disfiguring the tree. A 

 tree will not bear ringing either round the trunk or round the leading 

 shoot, unless there should by chance be a second leader, and one may be 

 removed without injury. 



" The tree which has had its trunk operated upon is in danger of either 

 perishing, or remaining a long time in a sickly state ; and, after it has 

 recovered its health, its sterility will be more durable than if it had nev- 

 er undergone the operation. 



" If a branch is ringed too close to its base, or the point where it is in- 

 serted into the trunk, it will be in danger of being beaten down by the 

 wind, or broken by the weight of fruit. A good place is at a quarter of 

 the length of the bough, and beyond other side shoots, the eyes of which 

 will also generally produce fruit. 



" The upper lip of the woujid swells considerably, and the more so ac- 

 cording as the ring has been broad, or the season far advanced. This 

 tumefaction of the bark is partaken of by the wood ; and the formation 

 of this tumor proves that it is principally by the descent of the sap, 

 which has been elaborated in the leaves, that the tree increases in girt. 

 It rarely happens that a pear tree, operated upon when it has attained 

 the age for bearing, does not go into flower the same year that the op- 

 eration is performed. There are, however, cases in which the repug- 

 nance of a tree to flower resists the efficacy of this method ; these 

 occur with all drooping trees, and whenever the wood is hard and 

 rough ; and, when at last trees of this description do show flowers, it 

 is upon another branch rather than on that which has been operated 

 upon. 



"The eye which is constrained by ringing to form its flowers prema- 

 turely, is of the same description as a similar eye springing from the 

 young wood: the flowers, in both cases, are very liable to drop off; and 

 the fruit, when it becomes ripe, is deficient in color. 



"The fruit of a branch operated upon, if it comes to any thing, owes its 

 strength to the state of suffering of the bough which bore it ; it is une- 

 qual in bulk, very often small, worm-eaten, dry, cracked, gritty, and of 

 an excessive sweetness, which it obtains at the expense of its juice. The 

 fruit should be reduced, by thinning, to a very small number, if it is 

 wished that they should attain perfection. 



" The new property which I have discovered to belong to ringing is 

 that it causes the eyes of branches which have not undergone the oper- 



