PAPERS ON BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE 155 



BLOOMING RECORDS OF THE APPLE 



C. S. Crandall, University of Illinois 



Recording plant processes that occur periodically is 

 receiving more attention than formerly and there is in- 

 creasing belief in the scientific and economic importance 

 of records of this character. The making of flowering 

 records is a comparatively simple matter; but, in order 

 to make such records of value, they must be digested, 

 brought into orderly form and interpreted in such man- 

 ner as will develop principles and admit conclusions that 

 may be formulated in a way to support some canon of 

 science or guide economic procedure, and this is not a 

 simple matter. 



This applies not only to bloom records of apples, but to 

 all other accumulated records touching any phase of the 

 life of living plants. Problems that, at first, may appear 

 simple soon develop an unexpected complexity; ques- 

 tions present themselves at every step, questions that 

 may involve morphological studies, or inquiry into 

 physiological functions or even determinations of chem- 

 ical composition. The subjects are living organisms; 

 they follow a fixed sequence of life events, but they vary 

 in time and manner of meeting and passing these events. 



The investigator may speculate on the causes of ob- 

 served departures from expected occurrences, reach and 

 announce conclusions that may or may not be correct, or 

 he may by more or less prolonged experiments reach con- 

 clusions that will stand, or he may ignore the questions 

 arising, merely state the facts and allow the reader to 

 draw his own conclusions. 



Bloom records to be considered were taken at the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Experiment Station; they include 

 flowering dates and periods for 106 varieties having rec- 

 ords of from ten to sixteen years. 



For central Illinois the flowering period for apples is 

 short ; in some seasons very short. Heat waves, in some 

 seasons, bring trees into full bloom with astonishing ra- 

 pidity; flowers retain the ability to function for a brief 

 period and the whole flowering process is over in a very 

 few days. Other seasons are characterized by abnormal- 



