this ? It may be that the difference could be explained in many- 

 ways, but the most probable one is that the twigs which made the 

 greatest progress had the most sunshine. The leaves, in order to do 

 their work well, must also have abundant sunshine baths — bright 

 light and not shaded light. 



All the terminal buds that you see on an apple tree have great 

 ambitions for the future, just as I hope each Junior Naturalist has. 

 The bud hopes to become a twig and grow into a branch, and if it 

 can reacli out into the sunshine it usually succeeds ; but many buds 

 do not find the full sunlight, and these disappointed ones may 

 become fruit buds. They are short and thick and are borne upon 

 what are known as fruit spurs. Some buds — poor things ! — receive 

 so little light that they become completely discouraged and dis- 

 appear altogether. Look at the picture and carefully note buds 

 numbered 3, 4, 5 and 6. These are probably disappointed buds and 

 in a few years will be only short spurs. 



I hope that every Junior Naturalist will visit an apple tree, break 

 off a twig and study it carefully. When you have written tlie story 

 which it tells, will you send the little twig to me ? The story it will 

 tell me is that my boys and girls have studied the thing itself, as 

 real naturalists should, and have not depended on books or leaflets 

 for information which can be obtained directly from nature. 



ALICE G. McCLOSKEY, 

 JNO. W. SPENCER. 



589 



