TEACHER'S LEAFLETS 



FOR USE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



PREPARED BY 



THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, 

 CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 



ITHACA, N. Y. 

 Issued under Chapter 128 

 of the Laws of 1S97. I. P. ROBERTS, Director. 



Four Apple Twigs. 



BY L. H. BAILEY. 



The Other day, as I walked through an apple orchard for the 

 first time since the long winter had set in, I was struck by the 

 many different shapes and sizes of the limbs as I saw them 

 against the blue-gray of the February sky. I cut four of them 

 in passing, and as I walked back to the house I wondered why 

 the twigs were all so different ; and I found myself guessing 

 whether there would be any apples next summer. 



Now, I have had pictures made of these four little apple limbs. 

 Let us look them over and see if they have any story to tell of 

 how they grew and what they have set out to do. 



I. 



One of these twigs (Fig. 19) was taken from a strong young 

 tree which, I remember, bore its first good crop of apples last 

 year. This simple twig is plainly of two years' growth, for the 

 " ring " between the old and new wood is seen at B. That 

 is, the main stem from the base up to B grew in 1895, ^"<^ the 

 part from B to the tip grew in 1 896. But the buds upon these 

 two parts look very unlike. Let us see what these differences 

 mean. 



We must now picture to ourselves how this shoot from B to 

 10 looked last summer whilst it was growing. The shoot bore 

 leaves. Where ? There was one just below each bud ; or, to be 

 more exact, one bud developed just above each leaf. These 



