290 REpoRT OF THE HorTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
INTRODUCTION. 
The ringing of woody plants is a well known horticultural 
practice. Its objects are: To cause unproductive plants to set 
fruit; to increase the size of the fruits and thereby the produc- 
tiveness of the plant; and to hasten the maturity of the fruit. In 
European countries particularly, all of the tree fruits are sub- 
jected to the process, but in America only the apple and the 
grape are advantageously ringed. Among others in this country 
Booth? and Goodman? have described the ringing of apple trees 
while Paddock? has published a bulletin from this Station on 
ringing grape vines. 
Strange to say, ringing seems to have been applied almost 
exclusively to woody plants, though theoretically it can as well 
be practiced on many exogenous herbaceous ones. In practice, 
so far as known, herbaceous plants are never ringed and there 
seem to have been but few experiments to determine the effects 
of such an operation, though opportunity has not offered t) 
review carefully foreign literature that might contain accounts 
of experiments in ringing. The only accounts of ringing her- 
baceous plants that have been found are by Sablon,* Daniel® and 
Hedrick.® 
If ringing would bring herbaceous plants into fruiting, in- 
crease the productiveness, and hasten the maturity of the prod- 
uct, as with grapes and apples, the operation would be of especial 
value in growing some greenhouse plants, since the qualities 
mentioned are essential to success in growing commercial crops 
under glass. It would commend itself, too, because the devitali- 
zation which eventually follows the ringing of plants would be 
of little consequence with most of those grown in the green- 
house, since they are grown for but one or two seasons and then 
discarded. 
‘Booth, N. O. Rural N. Y., 59:621. 1900. 
2Goodman, L. A. N. Y. State Fruit Growers’ Association, An. Rpt., 5:59. 
1906. 
3 Paddock, W. N. Y- Sta. Bul. 151. 1808. 
*Sablon, Leclerc du. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. (Paris), 140:1553-1555. 
1905. | 
>Daniel, L. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sct. Paris, 131:1253-55. 1900. 
® Hedrick, U. P. Amer. Florist, 17:729-730. 1901. 
