CHANGING THE BEARING YEAR 177 



can often be changed by removing the crop very 

 early in the season; but it is also true that the 

 trees tend to revert to their accustomed habit, 

 and it is probable that this reversion is the more 

 rapid and the more complete the older the tree 

 (page 166) and the more indifferent the general 

 treatment of it. In fruits which are most syste- 

 matically thinned (either by picking the fruit or 

 by means of the accustomed methods of pruning) , 

 annual bearing is the most pronounced. The 

 grape and peach are examples. Of trees which 

 are not habitually thinned, it seems as if annual 

 bearing is a quality of short-lived species more 

 than- of long-lived species, as suggested on page 

 166. In the short-lived species, as the bush- 

 fruits, there is not sufficient time, perhaps, to 

 allow such habits to become thoroughly fixed. 



Bearing in mind the alternation in fruit-bear- 

 ing in the spurs in Figs. 13 and 14, let us con- 

 sider what might happen if the fruit were re- 

 moved when very small. Fig. 117 tells the story. 

 In this case, the very young fruit was removed, 

 and two blossom -buds have developed the same 

 season. In this spur the bearing year is changed. 

 We also found that the bearing year was once 

 changed in the pear spur shown in Fig. 19. I 

 must hasten to say, however, that this change 

 in the bearing year does not always follow the 

 removal of the flowers or young fruits, for very 

 much depends on the habit of the tree-, as well as 



