EFFECT OF RINGING AND FRACTURING THE BRANCHES. 29 



SUMMARY. 



This experiment was continued for three seasons on a vigorous-growing Annie Elizabeth apple 

 tree about fourteen years old, at the start. As regards the effect on the development of Pit, there 

 was invariably less when the cinctures were made in the spring than in the winter months, and when 

 done in the month of September there was least of all. When the results obtained from the check 

 tree are compared with those from the partially cinctured tree, there is practically little difference in 

 the amount of Pit, but as regards yield, the latter had two to three times more fruit than the former. 



The checking of the sap- flow in the month of September, when it normally moves more freely 

 with the advent of spring, resulted in a diminution of the Pit, and for the past two seasons there was 

 none at all. 



Constricting the branches by means of wire was also tried, but the wire used was too thick, and 

 in no instance has it been overgrown. The fall of the leaves was not affected in any way, and the 

 results are of no value. 



Constricting the trunk by girdling with a zinc band has been in operation for two seasons, 

 but the results given in connection with the Pruning Experiments do not indicate any influence 

 upon the development of Pit. 



In 1913 several Cleopatra trees had a limb purposely fractured as shown in Report III., Fig. 24, 

 in order to determine the effect on the development of Pit. When the fruit was gathered in 1914, 

 there were very few pitted apples on any of the trees, and a comparison with the fruit from the frac- 

 tured limbs did not show any striking differences. During the past dry season only one of the broken 

 branches bore fruit. Of the five miserable-looking specimens one was clean, two were pitted and two 

 were " crinkled," which is rather an unusual occurrence in Cleopatra. The clean apple was two 

 inches in diameter, and the others were smaller, one of which only reached If inches in diameter. 

 There was only one apple on the rest of the tree, and it subsequently rotted. 



" RINGED" PEAR TREES. 



In the Second Progress Report reference was made at p. 31 to old pear trees which had been 

 completely rung and yet continued to bear fruit for several years. 



The Williams pear tree at Box Hill, Victoria, about 40 years old when rung in July, 1910, bore 

 more and better fruit for three consecutive years than formerly. A photograph taken in February, 

 1913 (Fig. 30), shows the pears still attached to the tree, and they were of fine flavour and juicy. 

 Next season the tree produced an abundance of blossom, and fruit was formed, but it never ripened. 

 In February, 1914, the shrivelled fruit was stil! hanging on the tree, which was apparently dead. 



A Josephine pear tree near Bathurst, between 50 and 60 years old, was rung in April, 1912. In 

 the two succeeding years it produced better crops than the owner ever remembered. It was visited 

 in May, 1915, by the Manager of the Bathurst Experiment Farm, and he reports : " The old pear 

 tree is moribund, and one large limb nearest the house has been removed. Many of the remaining 

 branches are dead. There are green leaves almost about to fall on one portion. The owner informed 

 me that the crop was light this season, but the pears matured satisfactorily. It would appear it cannot 

 live through another season." 



These examples show that pear trees can mature their fruit for at least three seasons after 

 being rung. The pears produced were sound, but since neither Pit nor " Crinkle" was found in the 

 fruit of the adjoining normal trees, no conclusions can be drawn as to the effect of " ringing" on 

 Bitter Pit. 



