Ringed Trees. 227 
“RINGED TREES.” 
By W. L. Goopwin, QUEnN’s University, KINGSTON. ~ 
It is usually the case that a tree from which a complete 
ring of bark has been removed, dies within a year. Botan- 
ists teach that the continuity of the cambium layer at any 
part is essential to the life of all parts above. When the 
bark is removed, the cambium layer is torn asunder, and the 
part adhering to the tree as a slimy layer soon dries and 
decays. The tree may survive during the rest of the 
summer, but puts forth no leaves the next spring. In fact, 
I believe “ringed” trees usually survive the operation for 
some months, but on this point I should like to hear the 
testimony of those who have had experience of destroying 
trees in this way. It is a pretty well established fact that 
the circulation of the nutritive juices of a tree takes place 
mostly through the cambium, but that there are other 
channels for the sap is proved by the existence of the tree 
after it has been ringed. However, these subsidiary chan- 
nels are evidently not sufficient to sustain life in the tree 
for more than a very limited period. As far asI know, 
only one exception to this rule has been recorded. A tree 
in the Botanical Gardens of Paris survived the operation for 
several years. I have to bring before the readers of the 
Record of Science another case which first came under my 
observation five years ago (the summer of 1883). It is a 
common pine tree, which had been ringed several years 
before I saw it—just how many, I could not ascertain. 
The tree stands at the edge of the pine woods of Studley, 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is one of two rising from a com- 
mon trunk which bifurcates immediately above the surface 
of the soil. The trees are about twenty-two feet high, and 
begin to branch freely at about six feet from the ground, 
The ring is about four feet from the fork and is eight inches 
broad. The exposed wood is dead, and no signs of life 
appear within half an inch of the surface. Within that the 
wood seems to be living. That the tree has grown con- 
siderably since it was ringed is shown by the following 
* measurements, made this summer :— 
