The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-07-03
THE GROWING OF GRAPES
Ringing Of Vines Meets With Gen
eral Favor Among Culiurists.
Removing n Bit of Outer Bark From
the Wood Prevents the Sap From
Descending to- the Roots and Keeps
IL Where IL Can Develop the Fruit.
Time 10 Obtain the Best Results.

The operation OF girdling. or. more
properly speaking. ringing grape vines. %
says a recent bulletin Issued from the
Agricultural Department. consists in re-
moving a ring Of bark from the hearing
arm about an inch wide or wide enough
50 that the bark will not heal over the
wood that has been laid bare. The same
result is sometimes accomplished by COM
pressing the branch with wire. The ope-
ration has been practiced more OF less for
many years for the purpose Of Fastening
maturity and improving the size Of the
grapes"
An explanation OF this sffee. on the
fruit. as found al the New York Expert
meut station. follows:
The food materials taken in 5y the
roots pass up through the outer layers Of
wood to the green parts Of the plant
Here new material for growth is found
and the portion tha, is not needed by
the leaves and other green parts passes
downward, for the most part through The
inner bark. 20 be distributed wherever il
is needed The wood is not disturbed in
the process Of ringing. therefore the up
ward movement o. the solutions is uot
inJeriered with: but since the downward
passage takes place through the inner
bark the flow is arrested when Il arrives
a The point where The bark has been re-
moved. Consequently the parts Of the
plant that are above the point where the
ring OF lark has been removed receive
more than = normal supply Of food which
tends = r5uC nee increase in size and ear
leT ripeT.aC % the fruit
As esrIy as 1877. the effects Of girdling
we've tested in the vineyard Of the Massa-
chusetts Agricultural College. and a study
of the subject has since been continued
at that institution with very favorable re-
suits IN these tests the ropening Of the
fruit VS. FASTENED sometimes as much
as ten days or TWO weeks and the size
also increased without loss Of palata-
bility If picker in good season. In Wet
seasons the berries tended 10 crack open
and to be too soft for marketing In some
cases the fruit on the Ungirdled branches
seemed 20 be reduced in quality. and grid
ling IL freely and continuously practiced.
apparently sapred the general vitality Of
the vine To avoid injury it was advised
to treat only those canes which are 10 be
cut away at the fall pruning and to leave
oue-half Of the canes untreated. AS a
further precaution il was suggested that
girdling be practiced only every alternate
year
The New York State Station made oees-
full tests of the practice on a number of
varieties in two localities in New York in
1886 and 1887 II was found. as a rule
that ringing produced earlier ripening
and larger punches Of berries. A report
Of the tests follows:
The first season the effect on the fruit
of socIe varieties was very marked Fruit
on ringed vines Of Empire State was not
only larger in both bunch and berry. but
began ripenil twenty-one days before
fruit on unribged vines. Other varieties
did not show any gain in size or earlier
maturing of the fruit when ringed.
The fruit in some varieties, as the
Delaware, showed a lack OF quality when
hinged. while thin-skinned varieties, as
the Worden. showed greater tendency TO
crack WI en- grown on ringed vines
The second season the effect Of ring
ing was not nearly so marked. thus show
i-g that the season has something TO do
with results obtained.
Cutting back the new growth on ringed
arms appeared TO result in giving better
quality to the fruit
That the effect Of ringing is devitaIizing
the pant there can be little doubt, but
when tCdiciously managed the cumulative
effect on strong growing varieties need
not result disastrously.
Vines grown on the renewal system
would seem to be better adapted TO ringing
than those grown on the Kuifln plan, since
with the former more wood can be left to
support the vine than is possible with the
latter system.
Where the vines are grown on the two
arm Knifin system the ring OF bark IS
commonly taken from both arms just be-
yond the fifth bud II has been found that
the ten tsuds that are left 70 the vine pro-
luce enough leaf surface to supply the
food necessary to keep the vine in a vigor-
Gus condition. providing the vineyard has
received proper care. Where the four-arm
Knifiin system is used some growers ring
the two top arms only, leaving three or
four buds on each for renewal. The two
lower arms, it is claimed, VIII bear as good
fruit as adjacent vines that have not been
hinged With the renewal system the two
main arms are usually ringed just beyond
he renewal bud With this system Of
training several shoots are LETT in the eeE-
re Of the plant which supply a sufficient
mount of plant food to support the vine.
some growers find it more satisfactory to
ing their vines every other year, since
with this method the vines are given an