18 FIRST LESSONS WITH PLANTS 



Upon the growth of 1894 D to E only three spurs have 

 developed, Nos. 24, 25, 26. These started out in 1895, and two 

 of them 25 and 2G have made large, thick buds, which are 

 evidently fruit -buds. The shoot at G grew on to E E, and all 

 the buds on its lower two-year-old portion remained dormant. 



On the 1895 growth from E to 28 all the buds remained 

 dormant except one, and this one 27 made only a very feeble 

 attempt to grow into a spur. 



The buds upon the 1892 growth 1 to 12 are still dormant 

 raid waiting for an opportunity to grow. Although these buds are 

 five years old, they are still apparently viable, and would grow if 

 they had the opportunity. Let the pupil determine how long 

 these dormant buds may remain in apparently good condition on 

 apple and other fruit trees. 



17. What an eventful history this apple twig 

 has had ! And yet in all the seven years of 

 its life, after having made fifteen efforts to bear 

 fruit, it has not produced one good apple ! 

 The fault, therefore, does not lie in the shoot. 

 It has done the best it could. The trouble has 

 been that the farmer did not give the tree enough 

 food to enable it to support the fruits, or he 

 did not prune the tree so as to give the twig 

 light and room, or he allowed apple- scab or 

 some other disease to kill the young apples as 

 they were forming. We may question, therefore, 

 when trees fail to bear, whether it is not quite 

 as often the fault of the farmer as the trees. 

 Every orchard affords an interesting field for ex- 

 ploration, and even a youth may be able to dis- 



