BETTER FRUIT 



AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF MODERN, TROGKESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



The Study of Fruit -Buds 



By E. .1. Klaus, Oregon Agricullural College, Coivallis, Oregon. 



IF the fruit-buds are regarded as the 

 actual fruit-manufacturing machin- 

 ery of a tree, it is necessary to 

 know something of where they are lo- 

 cated, how and when they are formed, 

 and how they should be treated. For 

 convenience, they may be classified ac- 

 cording to their particular location on 

 the tree, namely, terminal buds (on 

 shoots), axillary buds (on shoots) and 



Figure 15. Bartlett pear twigs showing al a 

 numerous axillary InitLs; ( terminal buds; / a 

 fruit-spur which bloomed last year but set no 

 fruit and from which vigorous' side branches 

 have grown; h fruit-spurs which bore fruit last 

 year and are producing blossoms this year at s. 



those borne on spurs. The terminal 

 fruit-buds arc those which are at the 

 very tip or terminus of a shoot. In cer- 

 tain varieties of apples such as Jon- 

 athan, Gravenstein, Newtown and 

 others, and in some varieties of |)ears, 

 notably the Bartlett, Winter Nelis and 

 Angouleme, much of the first crop of 

 fruit-buds is borne terminally on 

 shoots. The axillary buds are also 

 borne on one-year-old wood, but on the 

 sides of the shoots instead of at Ihe 

 tips. The third class of buds, those 

 borne on spurs, which are really 

 nothing more nor less than very short 

 branches, are borne either singly or in 

 aggregations of twos, threes or many. 

 Generally they are developed first from 

 either one or two-year-old wood, 



though at times from that which is 

 older. They develop either from single 

 terminal buds, as is general in plums 

 and prunes or from one to several lat- 

 eral buds, as in apples and pears. De- 

 pending on variety and environmental 

 conditions, these annual increases in 

 length may vary from a fraction of an 

 inch to several inches, with the result 

 that the older spurs may be very com- 

 pact, or loose and spreading. In some 

 instances large spurs consist of as 

 many as forty or fifty buds on more or 

 less angled branches. A fruit-spur, 

 then, may be a single short branch 

 bearing one or a few fruit and leaf 

 buds, or a large aggregation of such 

 branches which arise from one another. 

 The proportions of the several classes 

 of fruit-buds vary greatly, according to 

 the kind and variety of fruit. In the 

 peach, particularly, all the fruit-buds 

 are axillary and borne on one-year 

 wood. Some of the annual branches 

 are so short that they might be re- 

 garded as spurs perhaps, though the 

 proportion of buds borne on such 

 spurs, as compared to the total number 

 on the tree, is small. In this particular 

 class of fruits the fruit-buds, which 

 usually contain one or sometimes two 

 flowers, are borne singly on one side 

 or the other of the leaf-buds, or in 

 pairs with a leaf-bud between them. 

 They are usually more numerous to- 

 ward the tips of the branches, though 

 when the trees have been properly kept 

 open to admit light and air they are 

 plentiful on the smaller laterals and 

 scattered well along the branches, ex- 

 cept at the bases of 

 the larger ones. In 

 the plum and prune 

 fruit-buds are borne 

 both on o n e - y e a r 

 shoots and on spurs. 

 Most Japanese varie- 

 ties have large quan- 

 tities of axillary buds, 

 m u c h a s has t h e 

 peach, except that 

 frequently there arc 

 more than two buds 

 at each node. The 

 number of axillary 

 buds on fuie-year-old 

 wood in Ihe case of 

 the common vai'icties 

 of prunes shoidd be 

 regarded as small as 

 compared with those 

 on spurs, though one- 

 year-old spurs are 

 often prolilic bloom- 

 ers. The sweet cherry 

 bears its fruit-buds 

 either on spurs or as 



axillary buds on one-year-old wood. 

 If the one-year branches are of any 

 considerable length, it is worthy to 

 note thai Ihe fruit-buds on them are 

 borne near the base, or at least the 

 basal one-half. Apples and pears may 

 be considered together, since the 

 methods of fruiting are similar. The 

 fruit-!)iids are borne on spurs, as axil- 

 lai)- buds, or terminals on one-year 

 wood. Varieties vary greatly in this 

 regard. Some have a large proportion 

 of their fruil-buds on one-year wood, 

 especially while young, while others 

 bear very few such buds, having practi- 

 cally all, except a very few terminals, 

 borne on spurs which sometimes are 

 present on one-year wood. Attention 

 is called to Ihe fact that, normally, the 

 axillary fruit-buds are borne near the 

 tips of Ihe branches instead of the base, 

 just Ihe reverse of the condition pre- 

 vailing in Ihe sweet cherry. 



In apples and pears it is frequently 

 objectionable to have fruit borne at or 

 near the tips of long one-year branches, 

 because such branches are bent with 

 the fruit and become misshapen, are 

 swayed with the wind, anfl thus bruise 

 not only Ihe fruit they bear but all in 

 the immediate vicinity, and tend to 

 bring the fruit to the very outside of 

 the tree, so that even a light load is apt 

 to cause breaking. Yet it is undesirable 

 at times to remove all such fruit-buds, 

 because Ihey may constitute a large 

 proportion of the entire crop. If it 

 were possible it would be of much 

 greater advantage to have them borne 

 on short laterals so that they might be 



•'iciRK l(i. liarllell pear. At s fruit-buds produced lalirally from 

 a spur which bore last year. 



