In April Weather 61 



centre with one, or, it may be, two smaller ones 

 on either side. 



These are understudies, as it were, to the mid- 

 dle bud, ready to take up its work in the world 

 if it be killed or disabled. Normally it grows and 

 they remain quiescent. But it may be that one of 

 the side buds is the strongest of the group and 

 lives down all its fellows. It is a question of 

 survival of the fittest. 



The common .locust has several " accessory 

 buds" under the leaf-stalk, and a principal bud in 

 the scar left by the leaf of last summer. This 

 axillary bud may be overtaken in growth by the 

 strongest one in the group below it, so that in 

 years to come the tree will have two branches 

 almost together. 



In the poplar, elm, and willow extra buds are 

 potentially present in the bark, and will develop in 

 numbers if the tree is maimed. Such buds and 

 growths are called " adventitious," and have no 

 relation whatever to the ordinary position of the 

 leaves. Those of the elm sometimes appear on 

 the trunk in dense tufts of whip-like branches. 



The basket-makers turn the willow's ability to 

 produce adventitious buds to excellent account. 

 They cut off the crown of the tree, and the ends 



