54 STRUGGLE AMONGST BRANCHES 



season, there will be 10 branches, each of which may have 

 10 buds. At the end of the second year there will be IOC 

 branches; at the end of the third, 1,000. Can 1,000 branches 

 be borne on a 4-year-old branch 12 inches long, as a basel 

 Or, count the old bud-scars on the branches for the places 

 of the buds persist as wrinkles in the bark, often for man} 



years. (Fig. 91.) One can ofter 

 locate these bud-scars on ok 

 branches with his eyes closed b} 

 running his fingers over the bark 

 123. Buds that fail to gro^ 

 are called dormant buds. The} 

 are usually the weakest ones 

 those which grew in the mos 

 uncongenial conditions. They ar( 

 toward the base of the shoot 

 We have seen (118) tha 

 it is the terminal o: 

 uppermost buds whicl 

 are most likely to grow 

 The dormant budi 

 gradually die. T h e i 

 may live four or fivi 

 years on some plants 

 If the other buds o 

 branches fail or are in 



91. Scars of the dormant bud,-Wi,low. J Ufed ' the y ^ ^ W 



but usually they do not 



124. Dormant buds must not be confounded with ad 

 ventitious buds. We have learned (54) that adventitiou 

 buds are those formed at unusual times or places, becausi 

 of some disturbance of the part. If a large branch is cu 

 off, suckers or watersprouts are thrown out near the wound 

 these arise from buds that are made for the occasion. Thes< 

 buds did not exist there. In many countries it is a custon 



