I'eaciikr's Leaklkt. 



1173 



(lo). How many blossoms come from one winter bud? How many 

 leaves? Which are at the center, the flowers or the leaves? Do the 

 blossoms ever appear along the sides of the branches as in the cherries? 



(ii). How many blossoms from a single winter bud develop into 

 apples? Since the apple is developed on the end of the twig, how does 

 the twig keep on growing? 



Facts for teachers. — The apple buds are protected in winter by little scales, 

 which are more or less downy. As the bud opens these scales fall off, each one 

 leaving its mark crosswise on the twig. It is through these marks of the fallen 

 scale that we are able to detect the end of a year's growth on the twig and thus 

 read the story of its age. The scars look like wrinkles close together around the 

 twig. 



There is a difference in seasons and in varieties as to which appear first, the 

 blossoms or the leaves, but usually the blossoms come first. They both come 

 from the same winter bud, which is formed on the tip of a twig or spur. There 

 are other buds which produce only leaves. The apple bud is a beautiful object, 

 with its pink folded petals clasped within the opened recurving lobes of the calyx. 

 The calyx, stem, and stipules are pale green and downy. We speak of the lobes 

 of the calyx because they are joined at the base, and are not separate, as is the 

 case with sepals. When we look into the apple blossom we see that the five petals 

 are oval, cup-shaped, and with a decided stem at the base which peimits us to 

 see below them the lobes of the calyx which make the pretty five-pointed star 

 in the center of the flower. As the flowers age the petals open wider, bending 

 backward to reverse the cup. The petals are likely to be ribbed from the stem 

 up, resembling the petiole and veins of a leaf. The edge of the petal is whole, but 

 is likely to be wavy and in folds, quite different from that of the pear or the cherry. 

 The petals are likely to be pink on the outside and white within. They also fade 

 white with age. The pink outside of the petals gives the buds their beautiful 

 rose-color. 



The many stamens are pale greenish, white tipped with pale yellow anthers. 

 They are attached in ten groups, which fact is not easy to see. The five pale green 

 styles are tipped with pale green stigmas and the ovaries are joined at the base 

 and are later enveloped by the calyx, in which is developed the pulp of the apple. 

 Each one of these pistils becomes one of the five cells in the apple core. If one 

 of the stigmas does not receive pollen then that cell in the apple core will develop 

 no seeds; this often makes the apple lop-sided. 



When the petals first fall the calyx lobes are spread wide apart, but later they 

 close in toward the center making a tube. This is an important observation, 

 for the time to spray for the codling moth is before the calyx lobes close. These 

 lobes may be seen in any ripe apple as five little wrinkled scales at the outside 

 of the blossom-end. 



There may be five or six or more blossoms developed from one winter bud 

 with as many leaves encircling them, making each twig-tip into a beautifully 

 arranged bouquet. However, rarely more than two of these blossoms develop 

 into fruit, and the fruit is much better when only one blossom of the bunch pro- 

 duces an apple; if the tree bears too many apples it cannot perfect them. 



