l62 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



from a growth shoot ; for if they set a fruit bud or graft 

 a fruit spur instead of a tree they will at best get but a 

 single fruit. 



Any time after the leaves fall this study of buds may 

 be begun, but it should preferably be put off until late 

 winter, — February or March. If branches bearing both 

 kinds of buds — of apple, cherry, pear, peach, and plum 



Fig. 62. Cherry Twigs 

 The story as told by the buds themselves 



— be then set in a vase in a window in the schoolroom, 

 they will soon begin to swell. Fruit buds are plump and 

 short, while leaf buds are slender and pointed. For the 

 lower grades select a twig of the five kinds named above 

 and have the children guess which buds will produce leaves 

 and which blossoms. Tie a red string at the flower and a 

 white string at the leaf buds, and two or three weeks will 

 tell who is right. 



