PRUNING AND TRAINING PLANTS 



61 



The removal of old flowers prevents the formation of seed 

 and the waste of much food material. 



Suckering is the removal of young shoots that may de- 

 velop around the base of the stem, as in corn. It was thought 



Fig. 13. The seasonal history of an elm twig and of its protected buds. A, winter 

 condition. B, early spring; the floral buds have developed into floral branches. C, mid- 

 summer; 2 axillary leaf buds have developed into branches and produced leaves; 2 have 

 remained latent; the floral branches have developed mature fruits and have fallen, 

 leaving scars. D, late autumn; the leaves have fallen; in their axils are protected leaf 

 and floral buds. TB, minute undeveloped terminal bud; LBi-LBi, axillary leaf buds; 

 FB, axillary floral buds; SLS, scale-leaf scars; FBS, floral branch scars. (From Smith 

 et al., Textbook of General Botany. By permission of The Macmillan Co., publishers, 

 1935.) 



