By Joseph Sabine, Esq. 



123 



With respect to the width of the incision, it must be recol- 

 lected that the separation of the communication of the bark, 

 in every case, though in some more than others, materially 

 affects the health and vigour of the branch. As long as the 

 separation is kept up,* so long may the formation of addi- 

 tional blossom buds be expected; but the restoration of the 

 communication, which will be the consequence of the union 

 of the bark from the opposite sides of the ring, puts an end 

 to the whole of that unnatural process which the interruption 

 had occasioned. It is therefore requisite, that the bark should 

 be separated nearly the entire season in which the ring is 

 made, more especially in those trees where an increase of the 

 succeeding year's bloom is intended to be produced ; but it 

 is not advisable, in any case, to keep the ring open for a long 

 period ; the deposit of alburnum at the upper edge of the 

 ring, caused by the stoppage of the passage of the descend- 

 ing sap, increases the size and weight of the branch in that 

 place so much, whilst the under part remaius of its original 

 size, that it is very liable to be broken short off at the ring, 

 if the bark be suffered to remain long disunited. 



Having taken this general view of the subject, I proceed 

 to the consideration of the application of the practice to the 

 different kinds of fruit trees, as far as my own observation, 

 or the experiments of those with whom I have corresponded 

 relative to it, will enable me. 



* Since this Paper was read to the Society, Mr. Williams, of Pitmaston, has 

 mentioned to me, that a ligature on the branch, by a waxed string tied tightly 

 round it early in May, produces nearly the same effect as ringing. In this case, 

 although the downward flow of sap from the leaf is in some measure prevented, 

 the alburnum is not injured by exposure to the air, and there is less obstruction 

 given to the ascending sap, so that the health of the branch is preserved. 



