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 100 

 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 base? 

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

 of the buds persist as wrinkles in the bark, often for many 

 years. (Fig. 91.) One can often 

 locate these bud-scars on old 

 branches with his eyes closed by 

 running his fingers over the bark. 

 123. Buds that fail to grow 

 are called dormant buds. They 

 are usually the weakest ones, — 

 those which grew in the most 

 uncongenial conditions. They are 

 toward the base of the shoot. 

 We have seen (118) that 

 it is the terminal or 

 uppermost buds which 

 are most likely to grow. 

 The dormant buds 

 gradually die. They 

 may live four or five 

 years on some plants. 

 If the other buds or 

 branches fail or are in- 

 jured, they may grow, 

 but usually they do not. 

 124. Dormant buds must not be confounded with ad- 

 ventitious buds. We have learned (54) that adventitious 

 buds are those formed at unusual times or places, because 

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

 off, suckers or watersprouts are thrown out near the wound: 

 these arise from buds that are made for the occasion. These 

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



Scars of the dormant buds. — Willow. 



