306 



The Principles of Fruit-growing . 



Winter-killing of the fruit-buds. 



In severe winters, the entire fruit-spur (in the spur- 

 fruits, as apples, pears, plums and apricots) may be killed 

 outright, but the commoner case is the death of the bud 

 only. The bud may be entirely 

 killed, in which case it soon turns 

 brown throughout its entire diam- 

 eter and the flower never opens; 

 or only the pistil (the central organ, 

 that ripens into the fruit) may be 

 killed, in which case the flower may 

 open and appear to be perfectly 

 normal to the uncritical observer. 

 The latter case is common in peaches 

 and apricots. Fig. 110 illustrates 

 the condition. The flower at the right was uninjured by 

 the winter, and the pistil is seen, grown full length, at 1. 

 In the other flower, the pistil, at 2, is dead. We know 



FIG. 110. Normal apricot 

 flower (at 1), and one (at 2) 

 injured by cold of winter. 



FIG. 111. Live and 

 killed pistils. 



FIG. 112. Peach buds in section, to 

 show the pistil (in the center) and the 

 stamens. Enlarged. 



that this pistil was killed before the bud began to swell, 

 because it retains about the size it must have had in the 

 dormant bud. If it had been killed after the bud had 

 swollen, it would have appeared as a much larger and a 

 more or less crumpled or withered organ, as in b, Fig. 111. 



