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HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



upon, without sufficient manual power to effect 

 the entire taking up and replanting, and also in 

 cases where local obstructions come in the way, 

 we would say, be content with opening a trench 

 round the roots, as far as may be convenient ; 

 and after removing the soil carefully from the 

 roots within reach, reduce them according as 

 they can be got at, remembering, however, that 

 the fewer roots reached the more severely they 

 may be dealt with. 



Ringing is a species of pruning practised often 

 on the branches of fruit trees, and occasionally 

 on the larger roots also. The operation con- 

 sists in removing one or more rings of the bark, 

 by which the return of the sap is obstructed, 

 and it is thus obliged to accumulate above the 

 part operated upon, instead of taking its other- 

 wise natural course downwards. The practice 

 has been long in use on the Continent ; but until 

 Mr Knight explained the physiological nature of 

 the operation, little notice was taken of it in 

 Britain. The following excellent explanation of 

 the theory has been given by that eminent man 

 in " The Trans, of the Hort. Soc. " vol. iv. p. 229 : 

 " The true sap of trees is wholly generated in 

 their leaves, througli which it descends through 

 their bark to the extremities of their roots, de- 

 positing in its course the matter which is suc- 

 cessively added to the tree ; whilst whatever 

 portion of such sap is not thus expended sinks 

 into the alburnum and joins the ascending cur- 

 rent, to which it communicates powers not 

 possessed by the recently absorbed fluid. When 

 the course of the descending current is inter- 

 cepted, that naturally stagnates and accumulates 

 above the decorticated space, whence it is re- 

 pulsed and carried upwards, to be expended in 

 an increased production of blossoms and of fruit ; 

 and, consistently with these conclusions, I have 

 found that part of the alburnum which is situated 

 above the decorticated space to exceed in specific 

 gravity very considerably that which lies below 

 it. The repulsion of the descending fluid, there- 

 fore, accounts, I conceive, satisfactorily for the 

 increased production of blossoms and more 

 rapid growth of the fruit upon the decorticated 

 branch ; but there are causes which operate in 

 promoting its more early maturity. The part of 

 the branch which is below the decorticated 

 space is ill supplied with nutriment, and ceases 

 almost to grow ; it in consequence operates less 

 actively in impelling the ascending current of 

 sap, which must also be impeded in its progress 

 through the decorticated space. The parts 

 which are above it must, therefore, be less abun- 

 dantly supplied with moisture, and drought in 

 such cases always operates very powerfully in 

 accelerating maturity. "When the branch is 

 small, or the space from which the bark has 

 been taken off considerable, it almost always 

 operates in excess, a morbid state of early ma- 

 turity is induced, and the fruit is worthless. If 

 this view of the effects of partial decortication, 

 or ringing, be a just one, it follows that much of 

 the success of the operation must be dependent 

 upon the selection of proper seasons, and upon 

 the mode of performing it being well adapted 

 to the object of the operator. If that be the 

 production of blossoms, or the means of making 



the blossoms set more freely, the ring of bark 

 should be taken off early in the summer preced- 

 ing the period at which the blossoms are re- 

 quired ; but if the enlargement and more early 

 maturity of the fruit be the objects, the opera- 

 tion should be delayed till the bark will readily 

 part from the alburnum in the spring. The 

 breadth of the decorticated space must be 

 adapted to the size of the branch ; but I have 

 never witnessed any except injurious effects 

 whenever the experiment has been made upon 

 very small or very young branches, for such 

 become debilitated and sickly long before the 

 fruit can acquire a proper state of maturity." 

 The operation of ringing, although for certain 

 purposes valuable enough, should not be carried 

 too far ; and if it could be so managed that de- 

 cortication should be performed only on such 

 branches as could be afterwards entirely re- 

 moved without disfigurement to the tree, then 

 it might be more generally adopted. Its effects 

 in all cases are to render those portions of a tree 

 operated upon unhealthy, and ultimately to 

 make them perish. There is a modification of 

 ringing less injurious to the tree, but also less 

 effective in its results, namely — 



Spiral ringing. — This mode of ringing has 

 been suggested as being less lively to be injuri- 

 ous to fruit trees, particularly peaches, apricots, 

 plums, and cherries, which are much less patient 

 of the operation of common ringing than apples 

 and pears ; but the evil ought not in any case, 

 for such purposes, to be extended farther than 

 the edges are capable of healing in some degree, 

 or the life of the subject might be endangered 

 by the process. 



Ringing by ligature, &c. — Instead of removing 

 a ring of bark, a piece of wire, of strength pro- 

 portioned to the size of the branch, is placed 

 firmly round the part, which has the effect of 

 obstructing the sap, but to a much less degree ; 

 and a weight, such as a heavy stone, &c, is 

 used in Malta and elsewhere, by being placed 

 in the fork of a branch, and made fast, so as not 

 to be shaken down. The pressure it exerts on 

 the part it touches to some extent obstructs the 

 circulation of the sap, and produces, in propor- 

 tion to its compression, the effect desired. 



A girdle of Roman cement, put on in the man- 

 ner of claying a graft, has been recommended, and 

 a piece of rope tightened round the branch has 

 also been tried. In either case, the compression 

 caused has had the same effect as that of cut- 

 ting a ring of the bark out altogether, and with 

 far less serious effect on the branch, as both 

 are removed when the effect is produced. In 

 regard to the season of ringing by cutting the 

 bark, as well as the breadth of the ring removed, 

 that must be guided by circumstances. The 

 former, some assert, may be performed at any 

 season, but its effects will only be obvious when 

 the sap is on the ascent. In regard to the lat- 

 ter, the breadth of ring removed should bear a 

 proportion to the size of the branch operated 

 upon. It may vary from l-16th of an inch to 

 an inch, which latter will answer the purpose 

 as well as if of greater breadth, and has the ad- 

 vantage of healing over during the same, or, in 

 general, the succeeding year ; and the depth to 



