FRUIT -SPURS OF APPLE 



33 



scars would have been much larger than they are. 

 It was probably for that very reason, the failure 



of the fruit, 

 that the spurs 



were able to 



^ throw out leafy 

 shoots nearly 



or quite an inch long, to continue 

 the growth. Yet, even then, no 

 fruit -bud developed on the ends 

 of these spurs, for the small 

 pointed ends clearly indicate leaf- 

 buds. It is seen, therefore, that 

 there may be an alternation in 

 the fruit -spur, even when the 

 spur does not bear fruit. 



To still further elucidate the 

 formation of fruit-buds on the 

 apple, and to recapitulate some 

 of the foregoing observations, let 

 us trace the history of given 

 branches in detail.* 



One of these twigs (Fig. 16) 

 was taken from a strong young 

 15. Spurs of a tree > which bore its first good 

 crab-apple. crop of apples last year. This 



*This account of these three apple twigs is adapted from the author's 

 leaflet entitled "Four Apple Twigs," issued as a nature-study suggestion 

 by the College of Agriculture of the Cornell University, 1896-7. This 

 leaflet (and also "Lessons with Plants") contains the detailed his- 

 tory of an older and more complicated branch. 



