14 FIRST LESSONS WITH PLANTS 



IV. A BIT OF HISTORY 



15. The apple shoot in Fig. 10 contains a vol- 

 ume of history. The illustration shows a single 

 twig, but the branch is so long that it is broken 

 several times in order to get it on the page. It 

 arises at A, and continues, consecutively, at B, 



C, D, G, and F. A prominent feature of this shoot, 

 as, in fact, of almost any branch or plant, 

 is the presence of unlikenesses or dissimilarities. 

 No two of the members are alike. 



16. Let us count the yearly rings, and see how 

 old the whole limb is. These rings are at 28, E, 



D, 12, 1, five of them ; and as the shoot grew 

 one year before it made any ring, and another 

 year made no increase in length as we shall 

 see presently the whole branch must be seven 

 years old. That is, the limb presumably started 

 in 1890. 



16a. It is really impossible to tell whether the shoot started 

 from the limb A in 1889 or 1890, without knowing the age of A; 

 for the spur may have developed its blossom bud at the end in 

 either the first or the second year of its life. That is, young fruit- 

 spurs sometimes make a blossom bud the very year they start, but 

 they oftener "stand still" the second year, and delay the formation of 

 the blossom bud until that time. 



We will begin, then, at A, and follow it out: 

 165. 1890. Started as a spur from the main branch A, and grew 



to 1. 



