CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



181 



the year 1808, Mr. John Williams of Pitmaston commu- 

 nicated the plan, with full directions, to the London Horti- 

 cultural Society, as published in the first volume of its 

 "Transactions," p. 107. He states that he performed the 

 work in June and July, " leaving the naked alburnum com- 

 pletely exposed above an inch in width. . . . The fol- 

 lowing autumn, the fruit growing on these trees came 

 to great perfection, having ripened from a fortnight to 

 three weeks earlier than usual ; but in the 

 succeeding spring the branches did not 

 shoot with their accustomed vigor, and I 

 found that I had injured them by exposing 

 the alburnum unnecessarily." The next 

 season, he performed the operation a month 

 later in the season, and diminished the 

 width of the ring, and, he states, with 

 the best results. The philosophy of the 

 method is very clear, as will appear upon 

 examination of a section of a branch thus 

 operated upon, as represented in fig. 38. 

 The removal of the bark has not inter- 

 rupted the flow of sap upwards through 

 the porous wood. It has, however, abso- 

 lutely arrested all descending and elaborated sap, which. 



Fig. 38. 



