BUDS 



23 



36. Leaf-buds and flower-buds. — Buds from which shoots de- 

 velop bearing only green leaves are leaf-huds. Those which 

 produce flowers only are flower-huds. Some buds, however, pro- 

 duce shoots which bear both leaves and flowers and are therefore 

 mixed hiids (Fig. 11). FloAver- and mixed buds are commonly 

 called fruii-huds by fruit-growers since from them fruits develop. 



To undertake budding and pruning successfully, and to esti- 

 mate the prospective crop for the season, it is necessary for the 

 fruit-grower to distinguish between 

 fruit- and flower-buds. This is usu- 

 ally but not always possible. In ap- 

 ples, pears, and all pome-fruits leaf- 

 buds are readily distinguished from 

 fruit-buds. In the pomes the fruit- 

 buds are larger, plumper, and blunter. 

 In the stone-fruits the differences are 

 not so marked, especially in winter, 

 but as growth begins in the spring, 

 greater size, plumpness, and bluntness 

 show in the buds of plums, cherries, 

 and peaches much as in the pomes. 

 The position upon the twig may be a 

 distinguishing mark between the two 

 kinds of buds, as in the peach where 



there are usually three buds above a leaf-scar, the middle one 

 of which is a leaf-bud while the two outer ones are fruit-buds 

 (Fig. 12). Flower-buds are borne in triplets in Japanese plums. 

 In the grape there is sometimes a group of three or more buds 

 called a compound hud or an erje. In a compound bud on a 

 grape the central bud is the main hud, while the lateral ones are 

 secondary huds. 



37. Buds classified as to position on the stem. — Any place on 

 a stem may become the point of inception of a bud, but normally 

 buds originate in an orderl}^ manner as to position. These are 

 terminal when the bud terminates a stem ; and lateral when they 

 are borne on the sides of a stem (Fig. 13). Usually terminal 

 buds are more vigorous than lateral ones, as may be proved by 

 comparing the terminal and side shoots of branches in early 

 summer. Hence, in newly transplanted trees, it is often better 



Fig. 11. Leaf- and fruit- 

 buds, embryonic shoots, of 

 the grape. 



