New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 395 



the process of fertilization and thus eventually caused the death 

 of the entire blossom. 



Blossome which had been open several days before they were 

 sprayed seem to have reached a stage where the treatment die! 

 not check the progress of fertilization, and the fruit set as 

 abundantly as it did from corresponding blossoms which were 

 not sprayed. 



The Structure of an Apple Blossom and the Process of 



Setting Fruit. 



The following brief description of the structure of the apple 

 blossom and of the way in which it sets fruit may help some 

 readers to a clearer understanding of the subject. 



When the fruit bud of the apple tree opens it releases a cluster 

 of blossom buds. Such clusters usually contain five or six blos- 

 som buds. The central one in the cluster is regularly the 

 strongest, opens first, and sets first. Its fruit has the beet 

 chance of hanging on through the period when the weaker of 

 the youHg fruits drop and of remaining till it ripens. Several or 

 even all of the blossoms in a cluster may set fruit, but, if any of 

 these pass successfully through the period when the young fruits 

 drop, generally only one or perhaps two of them are left to ripen. 

 Fig. 2, Plate LVII, shows a typical Baldwin cluster shortly after 

 the blooming season passed and before the dropping of the 

 weaker fruits began. It shows clearly the superiority of the cen- 

 tral fruit in the cluster. 



An apple blossom cut through the middle shows different parts 

 as illustrated in Fig. 12. The outer green portion which covers 

 the bud is the calyx. Where the blossom opens it turns back- 

 ward as shown at c, Fig. 12, and c, Fig. 13. It remains after the 

 fruit has developed as may be seen by examining the blossom end 

 of a rii>e apple. The showy white or pink tinged part of the 

 flower is the corolla. Its separate leaves are called petals, pt, 

 Fig. 12. If calyx and corolla be taken away it is still possible 

 for fruit to develop. These are therefore not the essential organs. 

 The essential organs are inside of the petals. They are the 



