"The selector in a timbered country, without troubling himself about cause and effect, is aware that if he destroys the tree the grass will grow, and therefore he `ring-barks' his timber."
1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 9:
"Our way led us through a large but not dense wood of leafless gumtrees. My companion told me that the forest was dead as a result of `ring-barking.' To get the grass to grow better, the settler removes a band of bark near the root of the tree. In a country where cattle-raising is carried on to so great an extent, this may be very practical, but it certainly does not beautify the landscape. The trees die at once after this treatment, and it is a sad and repulsive sight to see these withered giants, as if in despair, stretching their white barkless branches towards the sky."
1893. `Thumbnail Sketches of Australian Life,' p. 232:
"We were going through ring-barked country. You don't know what that is? Well, those giant gum-trees absorb all the moisture and keep the grass very poor, so the squatters kill them by ring-barking—that is, they have a ring described round the trunk of each tree by cutting off a couple of feet of bark. Presently the leaves fall off; then the rest of the bark follows, and eventually the tree becomes nothing but a strange lofty monument of dry timber."
<hw>Ring-dollar</hw>, <i>n</i>. See quotation; and see <i>Dump</i> and <i>Holy Dollar</i>.
1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. iii. p. 131:
"The Spanish dollar was much used. A circular piece was struck out of the centre about the size of a shilling . . . and the rest of the dollar, called from the circular piece taken out a `ring-dollar,' was valued at four shillings."
<hw>Ring-eye</hw>, <i>n</i>. one of the many names for the birds of the genus <i>Zosterops</i> (q.v.).
<hw>Ringer</hw>, <i>n</i>. a sheep-shearing term. See quotations. Mr. Hornung's explanation of the origin (quotation, 1894) is probably right. See <i>Rings</i>.