156 



Journal of Agricultural Research 



Vol. XVII. No. 4 



and that the tree responded by putting forth fruit buds, while hindered 

 by cHmatic conditions from producing vegetative growth. 



In view of the fact that there are two periods of the year in which 

 there is a maximum production of buds, it is logical to expect that the 

 coefficient of correlation between time and number of buds would be 

 negative, since the maximum production is in the early part of the year. 



Table II shows the array for the figures representing the production 

 of new buds by months. 



Table II. — Correlation between new buds and the month in which they appear 

 Months, be ginning with March 



r=— o.6so±o.ii2 



The coefficient is strongly negative and is in harmony with the obser- 

 vations, showing that the numbers of new buds decrease after the spring 

 months, though not in a strictly linear regression. 



A certain synchronism was frequently observed in the production of 

 new fruit buds. If a branch blossomed heavily in March, it would 

 blossom heavily again in July. A branch which blossomed heavily in 

 August was likely to blossom heavily in November. 



THE SIZE AND PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE INFLORESCENCES 



The lemon flowers occur singly or in clusters. During the rapid growth 

 of spring large inflorescences are common; at other seasons the inflores- 

 cences are smaller and many of them possess ohly one flower. 



Statistical studies were made to ascertain the range of variability and 

 the productiveness of the inflorescences on these particular lemon trees. 

 Data on 1,363 inflorescences which appeared during the course of the 

 observations were examined. The number of flowers per inflorescence 

 ranged from i to 28. The relative frequency of the inflorescences in rela- 

 tion to the number of buds per inflorescence is shown in Table III. The 

 data show that the greatest frequency occurred in the class of inflores- 

 cences which bore a single bud and that the frequencies decreased quite 



