New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 291 
This Bulletin is a report of experiments with two plants, the 
tomato and the chrysanthemum, to ascertain what the effects of 
ringing may be on herbaceous plants. Daniel has reported, in 
the reference given above,®> marked increase in the size of the 
fruits of the egg-plant and tomato; and work done in 1go1 under 
the direction of one of the authors, as noted above,® seemed to 
show an increase in the size of the flower of the chrysanthemum 
and a slight acceleration in time of blooming. The effects indi- 
cated in these reports gave some promise of a favorable outcome 
of the experiments in the way of positive results at this Station. 
Such has not been the case, but the results are nevertheless of 
interest though negative. They show, more plainly than :could 
similar experiments on woody plants, the effects of ringing on 
plant organs and on the growth of the plant; and thus become of 
interest to the fruit-grower as well as to the gardener and florist. 
RINGING. 
The term “ringing” is one given to the making of a wound 
through the cortex and bast of a plant. It may consist of a 
simple cut made with a knife, or a band of bark of greater or less 
width may be removed. In horticultural practice the operation 
is performed during that period of growth when the bark peels 
most readily from the wood—the period of greatest cambial 
activity. This term is to be preferred to “ girdling” since the 
latter is used to designate a wound which extends into the wood 
of a plant for the purpose of killing it. The French phrase for 
the operation, “ décortication annulaire”’ (annular decortication), 
is more exact than either ringing or girdling. 
The theory upon which ringing is founded is a simple one. 
Crude, unassimilated sap passes from the roots of a plant to the 
leaves mainly through the outer layer of the woody cylinder. 
In the leaves this raw material is acted upon by various agents 
and is distributed to the several organs of the plant through 
vessels in the cortex, or the inner bark. When plants are ringed 
the upward flow of sap continues nearly as before the operation, 
but the newly-made food compounds can not pass below the 
injury, accumulate above it, and are supposed to supply the top 
of the plant with an extra amount of food at the expense of the 

® Daniel, L: Compt. Rend. Acad. Sct. Paris, 131:1253-55. 1900. 
® Hedrick, U. P.. Amer. Florist, 17:729-730. 1901. 
